*    APR  1 1 1910  * 


BX  7343   .C2  E32 
Egbert,  James. 
Alexander  Campbell  and 
Christian  liberty 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/alexandercampbelOOegbe_0 


APR  111910 

ALEXANDER  GAMPBEb^s? 
CHRISTIAN  LIBERTY 


A  Centennial  Volume  On  His  Controlling 
Ideas — Elnforced  By  His  Own  Words. 


By  JAMES  EGBERT,  A.B.,  D.B. 


fll^ntf tttttal  lEbttinn. 

laaa-isaa. 


Truth  has  nothing  to  fear  from  investigation.  It  dreads  not 
the  light  of  science,  nor  shuns  the  scrutiny  of  the  mo^  pry- 
ing inquiry.  It  challenges  the  fulled,  the  able^,  and  the 
boldest  examination. — Alexander  Campbell. 


ST.  LOUIS: 
CHRISTIAN  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 
1909. 


Neither  Christian  faith  nor  Christian  character  can  be  inherited, 
as  the  goods  and  chattels  of  this  world.  There  is  no  royal  ©r 
ancestral  path  to  faith,  piety,  or  humanity.  Whatever  truly 
elevates,  adorns,  or  dignifies  a  human  being,  must  be,  more  or 
less,  the  fruit  of  his  own  efforts. — Alexander  Campbell. 


Copyright,  1909, 
Christian  Publishing  Company, 
St.  lyouis,  Mo. 


To  Thb  Young  Mkn  op  America  with  open  minds  eager  for 
truth: 

To  American  Manhood  which  Alexander  Campbell  held  in  such 
high  esteem; 

In  his  own  spirit  and  word,  **Not  that  we  have  lordship  over 
your  faith,  but  are  helpers  of  your  joy." — 

IS  THIS  BOOK  DEDICATED: 

That  you  may  come  in  touch  with  and  appreciate  his  great 
personality: 
That  you  may  catch  his  spirit: 

That  you  may  express  yourself  in  your  chosen  task  to  your 
generation  as  faithfully  as  he  did  to  his; 

That  you  may  get  a  vision  of  the  Christ  as  impressive  and  be 
as  courageous  in  lifting  your  age  up  to  it  as  he. 


—3— 


PREFACE,. 


The  world  ever  has  its  revivals.  The  Renaissance  which  over- 
spread Europe  in  the  fifteenth  Century  was  a  shaking  up  of  the 
thought- world.  Thoughts  hidden  for  ages  were  resuscitated  and 
made  to  do  service  among  men.  The  Reformation  which  followed 
in  its  wake  belonged  properly  to  the  moral  realm  and  directed  its 
blows  to  conscience. 

Each  age  is  characterized  in  an  especial  way  by  some  revival 
in  literature,  in  painting,  in  music,  in  morals,  or  in  religion.  The 
revival  of  the  present  day  through  which  we  are  passing,  is  the 
Revival  of  Personality.  Psychology  has  come.  Man  is  under- 
stood as  never  before.  It  is  the  age  of  humanity.  The  whole 
man  and  the  whole  of  men  is  the  recognition.  "All  the  world  of 
the  beautiful  and  of  art  is  but  a  single  rose  thrown  over  the 
garden  wall,  as  but  a  little  hint  of  the  infinite  riches"  of  some 
personal  life.    So  President  King  is  able  to  say:* 

"All  values  finally  go  back  to  the  riches  of  some  personal  life. 
We  can  not  be  too  often  reminded  that  the  best  the  world  has 
ever  shown  us  in  literature,  or  music,  or  art,  is  but  a  partial  reve- 
lation of  the  inner  riches  of  some  personal  life.  So  Kaftan  is  in 
the  habit  of  saying  in  his  lectures  at  the  University  of  Berlin, 
that  the  greatest  problem  of  life  is  the  problem  of  appreciative 
understanding  of  the  great  personalities  of  history." 

This  book  is  an  attempt  in  this  direction.  It  seeks  to  know 
and  to  feel  the  force  and  significance  of  the  controlling  ideas  of 
Alexander  Campbell  as  they  issue  forth  in  Christian  Liberty. 
On  the  part  of  the  author  it  is  a  soul  experience.  For  the  past 
several  years  he  has  been  sitting  in  the  Dresence  of  this  great 
personality  with  a  longing  to  know  him  and  to  feel  the  touch  of 
his  soul  in  friendship.  He  brings  only  what  he  said  to  him  with 

*  Personal  and  Ideals  Elements  in  Education,  p.  78. 


Preface. 


the  hope  that  you,  too,  may  find  such  personal  fellowship. 

Mr.  Campbell  was  a  voluminous  writer,  having  published  about 
sixty  volumes.  They  are  all  more  or  less  connected  with  matters 
and  discussions  foreign  to  our  time.  Few  would  find  time  or 
even  care  to  go  to  them.  Yet  amid  these  pages  of  seeming  dry- 
ness are  living  gems  of  royal  beauty  which  the  world  can  ill 
afford  to  lose.  That  the  world  needs  these  treasures  and  needs 
them  now  justifies  the  bringing  of  them. 

This  is  first  of  all  a  book  for  the  people.  Realizing  that  many 
of  the  best  works  today  are  utterly  beyond  the  reach  of  the  aver- 
age mind  because  of  the  use  of  technicalities  of  theology  and 
philosophy,  the  author  has  endeavored  to  put  things  in  a  clear, 
straightforward  way  to  the  capacity  of  the  average  man. 

Mr.  Campbell  is  unknown  today  except  by  a  few  who  have 
spent  years  in  his  presence.  All  need  to  know  him,  from  the 
least  to  the  greatest.  There  have  been  some  excellent  books 
written  about  him.  The  uniqueness  of  this  book  is  to  let  him 
speak  for  himself. 

In  a  time  like  this,  when  brother  stands  confronting  brother, 
when  each  would  designate  the  other  by  some  harsh  and  odious 
name,  when  to  slay  a  reputation  is  counted  among  earth's  most 
brilliant  achievements,  when  soul  would  fetter  soul — all  need  to 
hear  the  clear,  strong  voice  which  rang  through  the  nineteenth 
Century  calling  for  Christian  Liberty. 

Extensive  quotations  from  others  have  been  made  in  order 
that  Mr.  Campbell's  ideas  might  stand,  both  in  their  comparison 
and  their  contrast,  along  with  the  best  utterance  of  modern 
thought.  None  but  the  ablest  scholars  of  world-wide  reputation 
have  been  used  in  this  way.  It  is  the  candid  judgment  of  the 
author  that  Mr.  Campbell  suffers  nothing  from  such  association. 
On  the  contrary,  he  who  began  to  speak  one  hundred  years  ago 
proves  himself  by  his  own  utterance  to  be  a  scholar  among 
scholars. 

In  the  author's  confining  himself  to  the  controlling  idea 
of  Mr.  Campbell  in  Christian  liberty,  the  treatment  may  seem 

—6— 


Preface. 


partial,  showing  but  one  side  of  the  man.  This  could  not  well 
be  avoided.  The  author  proposes  in  the  near  future  to  sup- 
plement this  work  with  a  treatment  of  his  more  constructive 
labors.  This  will  be  a  development  of  his  controlling  ideas 
of  liberty  working  out  in  his  efforts  for  a  Universal  Christian 
Brotherhood.  The  present  theme  is  really  limited  to  a  consider- 
ation of  his  principles  of  liberty.  * 'Alexander  Campbell  and 
Christian  Unity,"  will  show  how  he  put  these  principles  of 
liberty  to  work  in  men's  lives  and  how  in  the  true  American 
fashion  he  joined  "I^iberty  and  Union." 

The  author  wishes  to  express  his  thanks  to  the  Christian 
Publishing  Company  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  for  their  kindness  in 
granting  him  the  use  of  Mr.  Campbell's  works. 

He  is  under  great  obligations  to  Prof.  Albert  Temple  Swing, 
D.  D.,  of  the  Church  History  Department  of  Oberlin  Seminary, 
under  whom  he  sat  for  two  years  as  a  pupil,  and  who  so  kindly 
read  the  manuscript,  making  valuable  corrections  and  sug- 
gestions. 

He  also  desires  to  express  his  gratefulness  to  Miss  Lora  N. 
Christe  and  Miss  Jennie  H.  Jacobson,  both  of  Anaconda,  Mont., 
who  so  patiently  type- wrote  the  MS.,  the  former  Part  I,  and 
the  latter  Part  II. 

Thu  Author 


IXTRODUCTIOX. 


It  is  eminently  fitting  that  Alexander  Campbell  be  introduced 
to  the  world  anew  in  the  year  that  witnesses  the  Centennial  of 
the  movement  which  he  and  his  father  inaugurated.  Mr,  Camp- 
bell is  not  known  to  this  generation.  It  is  surprising  how  little 
many  men  of  letters  and  of  high  reputation  in  the  theological 
world  know  of  this  reformer  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Great 
men,  however,  like  great  objects  in  nature,  require  distance  to 
be  seen  in  their  true  magnitude.  Alexander  Campbell's  leading 
ideas  are  much  more  in  harmony  with  the  thought  of  the  pres- 
ent time  than  they  were  with  the  ruling  ideas  of  the  age  in 
which  he  hved.  Thinkers  of  today  in  the  realm  of  religion  need 
only  to  be  introduced  to  this  bold  thinker  of  the  past  centurj- 
to  be  impressed  with  his  intellectual  iKDwer,  his  mental  inde- 
pendence and  his  rehgious  genius.  They  wiU  readily  recognize 
in  Mr.  Campbell  one  who  loved  truth  more  than  popularity, 
Ubert>-  more  than  conformity-  to  existing  standards,  and  loj-al- 
t>-  to  Christ  more  than  the  cherished  religious  associations  and 
traditions  of  his  early  life.  Such  a  man  is  a  blessing  to  any 
age,  and  to  such  men  we  are  indebted  for  whatever  progress 
in  religious  freedom  and  in  religious  thought  the  world  has 
made. 

The  author  of  this  volume  introduces  Mr.  Campbell  to  us 
in  one  of  the  most  striking  aspects  of  his  character — his  love 
for,  and  his  exercise  of,  rehgious  hbert}'.  He  had  other  char- 
acteristics, but  without  this  he  never  could  have  been  the  re- 
former that  he  was.  It  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say  that  Mr. 
Campbell  is  little  known  in  this  feature  of  his  character,  tc 
many  of  those  associated  with  the  movement  of  which  he  was 
the  most  distinguished  leader.  This  fact  has  become  increas- 
ingly evident  in  later  years.    The  timeliness  of  the  book  is 

—9— 


Introduction. 


as  much  due  to  this  imperfect  knowledge  of  Mr.  Campbell  on 
the  part  of  his  friends  as  to  the  wider  lack  of  acquaintance- 
ship with  him  on  the  part  of  the  religious  world  at  large.  If 
ours  be  a  providential  movement  in  which  the  hand  of  God  is 
manifest,  we  cannot  study  too  closely  the  men  whom  He  used 
to  inaugurate  the  movement  and  to  expound  its  principles.  If 
the  religious  reformation  of  which  Alexander  Campbell  became 
the  most  conspicuous  representative  is  to  be  a  continuous  Re- 
formation, adjusting  itself  to  the  new  and  changing  conditions 
of  the  world  as  they  arise,  the  spirit  of  liberty,  and  love  of 
truth,  and  willingness  to  follow  the  truth  whithersoever  it 
leads,  must  characterize  its  advocates,  and  especially  its  leaders, 
in  every  age.  It  is  in  this  fact  that  this  volume  has  its  chief 
value. 

Not  the  least  praiseworthy  feature  of  this  valuable  work  is 
the  freedom  and  fullness  with  which  Mr.  Campbell  is  allowed 
to  speak  for  himself.  After  all,  he  will  stand  or  fall  at  the 
bar  of  impartial  history,  not  by  what  others  have  said  about 
him,  but  by  what  he  himself  has  said  on  the  great  themes  upon 
which  he  spoke  and  wrote.  Time,  which  tests  all  things,  will 
sift  out  whatever  was  of  transient  value,  in  his  utterances,  or 
which  served  a  temporary  purpose,  but  that  which  is  of  en- 
during worth,  because  it  is  the  worthy  expression  of  immortal 
truth,  will  live  on  and  minister  to  the  world's  hunger  long 
after  towers  and  monuments  shall  have  crumbled  from  their 
granite  bases,  and  our  "little  systems"  shall  have  had  their 
day  and  "ceased  to  be."  Some  of  the  statements  herein  quoted 
deserve  to  take  their  place  in  the  world's  permanent  literature. 

The  work  is  written  m  a  style,  and  with  a  literary  charm, 
which  comport  well  with  the  subject  treated.  There  is,  too, 
an  antecedent  preparation  in  the  life  and  experience  of  the 
author  which  has  well  fitted  him  for  this  important  task.  None 
but  a  student  of  the  writings  of  Mr.  Campbell  can  appreciate 
at  its  true  value  the  splendid  personality  which  lies  behind  his 
writings,  and  the  greatness  of  the  work  he  sought  to  accomplish. 

—10— 


Introduction, 


It  is  understood  that  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  author  later  to 
write  a  companion  book  to  this  on  ''Alexander  Campbell  and 
Christian  Union."  Meantime,  he  has  done  well  to  put  this 
fearless  reformer  before  the  world  as  the  champion  of  Christian 
liberty.  After  examination  of  its  contents,  I  can  most  heartily 
recommend  it  to  all  lovers  of  Christian  liberty,  and  especially 
to  those,  whether  among  ourselves  or  others,  who  have  never 
yet  come  to  a  real  acquaintance  with,  nor  proper  appreciation 
of,  the  "Sage  of  Bethany." 

J.  H.  GARRISON. 
W.  T.  MOORE. 
F.  W.  ALLEN, 


—11— 


CONTENTS. 


Part  I.— IvIBERTY  and  the  New  Wori;d  Conditions. 
Chapter  I. — A  New  Appreciation. 

The  outcome  of  an  experience,  23. 

The  growing  mind.  24. 

True  personal  association,  24. 

Early  appreciation,  25. 

New  appreciation,  29. 

A  two-fold  message,  31. 

Inconsistencies,  35. 

Adaptation,  36. 

The  fathers  living,  39. 
Chapter  II.— I/iberty  and  Progress. 

The  spirit  of  freedom,  43. 

Joined  the  side  of  progress,  45. 

Two  classes  of  people,  47. 

Dominant  note  of  19th  Century  thinkers. 

His  task  found,  53. 

No  reason  for  fear,  55. 

The  great  gulf,  56. 

Gauging  by  the  past,  57. 
Chapter  III. — The  Limits  of  Knowledge  and  the  Free- 
dom to  Think. 

A  deep  consciousness  of  limits,  63. 

Obliged  to  change  his  views,  67. 

His  firm  stand  for  truth,  68. 

Feared  the  outcome  of  growing  wise,  71. 

Ivined  up  with  liberty  and  progress,  72. 
Chapter  IV. — Appreciation  of  Great  Personalities. 

Appreciation  of  the  great  personalities  of  history, 
79. 

Coleridge,  80. 
Luther,  80. 

The  world's  great  benefactors,  82. 
Their  extensive  influence,  83. 
Bow  in  reverence,  83. 
Sees  God's  working  in  history,  84. 
—13— 


Contents, 


Indebtedness  to  various  thinkers,  85. 

His  unique  position,  87. 

His  type  of  mind,  87. 
Chapter  V. — A  new  Voice  in  Protestantism. 

The  tendency  to  crystallize,  93. 

A  new  voice  heard  in  Protestantism,  94. 

His  protest,  97. 

The  fault  fundamental,  98, 

A  restoration  proposed,  100. 

Finds  his  task,  100. 

"Back  to  Christ,"  101. 

Part  II.— Liberty  and  the  Bibi^e. 
Chapter  I.— The  Bible  Restored. 

IvUther's  experience,  111. 

Mr.  Campbell  came  to  his  task  out  of  a  growing 

experience,  112. 
His  touch  with  his  age,  115. 
The  confronting  barriers,  116. 
The  general  enlightenment,  117. 
What  attitude  toward  the  Bible?  121. 
Champions  a  new  emphasis,  124. 
In  the  quest  of  truth  he  feared  not  light,  126. 
"The  Old-Fashioned  Bible,"  127. 
Foremost  among  critics,  129. 
Chapter  II. — Criticism. 

As  scholar  and  critic,  135. 

Appealed  to  ablest  critical  scholarship,  136. 

What  is  Biblical  Criticism?  137. 

The  gyascutus  broke  loose!  138. 

The  savage  cry,  138. 

Luther  and  Melancthon  on  science,  139. 

What  criticism  is,  141. 

Arnold,  King,  Harper,  141. 

Dr.  Strong,  142. 

Dr.  Farrar,  143. 

Dr.  Selleck,  145. 

Professors  Smith,  Ladd,  and  Hinsdale,  146. 
Mr.  Campbell  a  "Lower"  and  a  "Higher"  critic, 
147. 

One  of  the  most  opposed  American  critics,  148. 
Chapter  III. — New  Versions. 

As  a  critic — the  temper  of  a  scholar,  151. 
—14— 


Contents, 


The  surrounding  atmosphere,  153. 

Different  viewpoints,  154. 

The  human  side  of  the  Bible,  155. 

Freed  from  false  reverence,  157. 

The  timid  non-progressive,  158. 

New  versions,  unsettling,  160. 

Effect  on  the  world  of  literature,  161. 

Book  of  God  as  leader,  162. 

Objections  to  authorized  version,  163. 

Fears  only  the  "weak  minded,"  165. 

Enlarges  upon  reasons  for  new  versions,  166. 

Constant  need  of  new  language  to  convey  the 

newly  felt,  167. 
Translation  affected  by  interpretation,  168. 
Authorized   version   penetrated   with    views  of 

translators,  169. 
The  daring  critic,  169. 
Simply  pours  it  on,  170. 
Objections  summarized,  170. 
*'The  Word  of  God,"  171. 
Indulges  in  irony,  173. 
A  dear  sister,  175. 

His  common  sense  and  logic  applicable  to  other 

problems,  175. 
The  long  time  required  for  truth  to  dawn,  175. 
The  real  cause,  176. 

Appreciated  the  ability  of  his  times,  176. 
Helped  to  give  us  the  revised  Bible,  180. 
A  Campbellian  note  sounded,  181. 

Chapter  IV.— Coming  to  the  Bible. 
Watch  the  critic  as  he  works,  185. 
The  liberty  of  the  individual  to  interpret  the 
Bible,  186. 

The  lost  gospel  due  to  a  false  interpretation,  187. 

Come  to  Bible  as  to  any  book,  188. 

In  line  with  world's  best  critics,  189. 

The  rules  applied — the  Bible  a  human  book,  189. 

The  popular  method,  192. 

Difficulties  which  beset  the  historian,  193. 

Importance  of  this  task,  194. 

No  small  undertaking,  195. 

Corrupted  text,  196. 

Errors  few,  197. 

No  alarm  from  human  imperfections,  197. 
—15— 


Contents. 


Human  andDivine,  200. 
His  power  in  debate,  201. 
Came  to  Bible  critically,  202. 
The  personal  equation,  203. 
Progress  in  criticism,  204. 
His  optimism,  205. 
No  alarm  from  criticism,  205. 
Bible  not  the  fount  of  all  wisdom,  207. 
Shipwrecks  of  faith— why?  209. 
Background  of  his  labors,  212. 
The  true  content,  216. 
Coleridge  and  Campbell,  218. 
Herder  and  Campbell,  219. 
Figurative  and  literal  meaning,  221. 
Some  examples,  222. 

Chapter  V.  Hearing  the  Voice  of  God. 

Uniqueness  of  his  attitude,  229. 

Bible  divine,  230. 

A  revelation  of  man,  231. 

Transcended  the  popular  idea,  234. 

Was  coming  to  modern  view,  236. 

A  large  and  gratifying  outlook,  242. 

Perfect  revelation,  243. 

Infallibility,  244. 

True  touch-stone,  245. 

Ivistening  for  God's  voice,  248. 

A  book  of  literature,  249. 

Right  attitude,  249. 

The  partisan  spirit,  251. 

True  way  to  hear  God's  voice,  251. 

Chapter  VI.   Certainty  of  the  Divine  Voice. 

Bible  speaks  its  own  worth,  257. 

Possible  and  probable  that  God  has  spoken,  258. 

Impossible  to  prove  to  all,  262. 

Personal  and  ethical  proof  has  precedence,  264. 

Ivove  and  sacrifice  the  key-note,  264. 

Seeing  God,  267. 

Love  everywhere,  267. 

The  day  of  the  divine  demonstration  past,  270. 
The  real  difficulty,  271. 
The  ethical,  274. 
The  ethical  appeal,  275. 
Certainty  of  the  Divine  Voice,  282. 
—16— 


Contents. 


The  greatest  infidels,  282. 

Personal  reformatiou,  283. 

Criticism  in  the  sphere  of  the  personal,  283. 

He  transcends  even  criticism,  284. 

Making  a  distinction,  286. 

The  authority  of  Jesus,  287. 

Return  to  Christ  as  authority,  288. 

Lordship  of  Jesus,  289. 

Chapter  VII.    The  Heretic. 

A  bold  and  fearless  Biblical  critic,  293. 
A  critical  movement,  293. 
As  a  Protestant,  294. 

Why  many  thought  him  a  destructionist,  296. 
Modernism,  298. 

Flashing  the  light  upon  conservatism,  300. 
Labored  for  a  new  Bible,  301. 
Passing  through  an  experience,  302. 
Orthodoxy,  303. 

Consolation  in  the  two  never-failing  facts,  307. 
The  arch -heretic,  307. 
Bigotry,  308. 

The  peculiar  merit  of  Mr.  Campbell,  309. 
His  treatment  as  a  heretic,  315. 
Lifted  to  the  world  a  new  song,  315. 
These  singers  of  new  songs,  315. 
Yet  the  sacrifice  has  its  compensation,  317. 
Chapter  VIII.    The  Outlook— "What  of  the  Night?" 
Their  followers  do  not  follow,  323. 
What  is  the  outlook?  324. 
*Tis  not  night  but  glorious  day!  328. 
Our  institutions,  329. 

No  chasm  should  yawn  between  church  and  school, 
330. 

Adjusting  the  truth  to  the  age  conditions,  330. 

No  new  message  needed ,  331. 

Our  message  manifold,  333. 

Loyalty  to  the  fathers,  334. 

The  tasks  that  confront  the  church  to-day,  334. 

Progress  did  not  cease  at  his  death,  336. 

Coming  to  Mr.  Campbell,  337. 

His  passing  to  God.  Still  speaking  on  earth,  338. 

Bibliography,  341. 


—17— 


PART  I. 

Liberty  and  the  New  World  Conditions. 


CHAPTER  1. 
A  New  Appreciation. 


If  thou  findest  a  good  man,  rise  up  early  in  the  morning  to  go 
to  him,  and  let  thy  feet  wear  the  steps  of  his  door. — Bccl\Apoc- 
rypha). 

Whereof  the  man,  that  witli  me  trod 

This  planet,  was  a  noble  type, 
Appearing  ere  the  times  were  ripe, 

That  friend  of  mine  who  lives  with  God. — Tennyson. 

You  have  read  my  book,  but  not  my  heart — Elizabeth  B, 
Browning. 

The  heroic  souls  of  all  time  are  those  who  grapple  with  the 
hard,  pros\^  facts  of  existence  and  draw  from  them  a  song  of 
cheer.  These  are  the  true  helpers  of  himianity.  The  wilderness 
and  solitary  places  are  glad  for  them.  And  deserts  blossom  be- 
neath their  feet. — £. 

Into  her  hands  fell  a  branch  of  beautiful  white  flowers,  but  in- 
terspersed with  black,  ugly  thorns.  Through  tears  she  said,  '1  will 
transform  the  thorns."  So  adown  the  years  she  went  transforming 
the  thorns ;  sometimes  softly,  sometimes  with  enthusiasm,  but  al- 
ways with  the  consciousness  that  life  was  growing  richer  and 
sweeter.  For  ever^-where  about  her  pathway  sprang  the  loveliest 
of  flowers.  While  the  air  was  fragrant  and  the  over-arching  sky 
was  always  blue. — E. 


—22— 


CHAPTER  I. 


A  Ndw  Appreciation. 

This  book  is  the  outcome  of  an  experience.  Just  such 
an  experience  as  many  have  passed  through  during  the 
present  age  of  inquiry.  The  author  is  assured,  then,  of  a 
large  and  appreciative  audience.  It  is  only  in  experience 
that  souls  really  touch  one  another  and  stand  altogether 
revealed. 

Such  experiences  as  followed  upon  the  great  awakening 

of  thought  have  been  painful,  pathetic  and  often  tragic  in 
the  extreme,  and  who  would  seek  or  ever  care  to  portray 
tne  mental  anguish  of  the  growing  mind?  They  are 
costly  in  the  passing  of  the  most  precious  of  which  our 
lives  consist,  not  only  in  cherished  ideals  but  often  in  the 
loss  of  fond  personal  associations.  How  often  we  startle 
when  we  awaken  to  the  fact  that  the  saddest  death  is  the 
loss  of  a  soul  which  failed  to  rise  with  us  into  the  reality 
of  life! 

Yet  amid  the  grief  and  loneliness  which  attend  our  way 
we  still  keep  the  upturned  face  and  trust  the  "Kindly 
Light"  to  lead  us  on,  and  somehow,  we  believe  that  some- 
time, somewhere  there  will  be  a  recompense  "to  tear- 
stained,  saddened  eyes."  Somehow,  we  trust  for  such 
glad  surprise.  Somehow,  we  believe  that  in  the  eternal 
morning  those  angel  faces  shall  greet  us — those  faces 
"which  we  have  loved  long  since,  and  lost  awhile." 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


Still  such  an  experience  as  attends  the  evolution  of  the 
mind  in  its  reach  for  knowledge  is  not  wholly  without  its 
compensation  even  here  amid  the  struggle.  What  man 
among  us  even  though  civilization  has  its  world  of  com- 
plexities, hardships  and  toils,  would  wish  to  go  back  to 
the  savage  life  of  ease  and  quiet  contentment  Vv^ith  its  little 
and  insignificant? 

In  the  passing  of  the  old  and  the  coming  of  the  new  we 
are  not  wholly  at  loss,  something  of  rich  and  abiding 
worth  is  left  us.  Our  new  knowledge  is  but  a  truer  grasp 
of  the  Infinite.  In  such  rise  of  the  soul  we  are  only  pass- 
ing out  of  a  stage  of  mere  existence  to  life  itself.  Nor 
do  we  in  the  effort  begrudge  the  sting.  No  such  "spark 
divine"  disturbs  the  contented  beast.  In  the  throe  we  dis- 
cover the  marks  of  the  man.  So  let  the  glorious  work  of 
progress  go  on !  We  would  not  hinder  it,  but  would  rise 
with  its  tide !  We  would  step  out  of  the  black  of  night 
into  the  radiance  of  day!  We  are  confident  that  today 
we  are  living  in,  not  only  a  new  world,  but  a  better  worldj 
notwithstanding  the  pessimists.   We  believe  that : 

"Out  of  the  shadow  of  night 
The  world  rolls  into  light, 
It  is  daybreak  everywhere!" 

Moreover,  let  us  not  say  that  development  is  only  ad- 
vance in  knowledge.  Let  us  not  think,  that  in  our  rise 
to  God,  we  have  lost  anything  of  true  personal  associa- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  in  touching  the  Infinite  we  are 
brought  into  a  circle  of  souls  over  which  time  and  place 
have  no  power.    An  unpleasant  gulf  may  yawn  between 

—24— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


us  and  many  whom  we  day  by  day  meet  face  to  face ;  in 
that  there  is  no  correspondence  between  us  in  our  aim, 
purposes  and  ideals.  They  may  fail  to  understand  us.  But 
we  need  not  yield  to  such  loneliness,  for  in  coming  into 
the  great  heart  of  God,  we  have  come  into  companionship 
with  the  rare  and  choice  souls  of  all  time.  Here  there  is 
mutual  understanding.  Xo  barrier  rises  to  separate  us 
from  these,  except  that  which  our  own  wills  raise  in  our 
low  and  sordid  ideals  of  life.  Therefore,  we  may  rise  up 
with  strength  and  turning  from  the  apparent  loneliness  of 
life,  meet  God  and  duty  singing  as  we  go. 

]\Ir.  Campbell,  himself,  in  one  of  his  quiet  soul  medita- 
tions feels  this  great  truth.  He  is  contrasting  the  happy 
lot  of  those  "who  sail  wdth  wind  and  tide  down  the  stream 
of  popular  esteem,"  with  ''yonder  small  company  in  a  little 
bark,  toiling  against  wind  and  current,  ascending  the 
rapid  stream  of  vulgar  applause."  But  he  comforts  his 
soul  with  this  satisfying  conclusion  : 

"O,  my  soul,  do  you  not  know  that  every  good  intention  of 
yours,  and  every  good  effort  of  yours,  were  it  only  to  subdue  one 
evil  inclination,  is  witnessed  with  admiration  by  all  the  excellent 
that  ever  lived  *  *  *  when  you  make  one  righteous  effort  to  pro- 
mote goodness  in  yourself,  or  in  any  human  being,  know  that 
t\try  good  man  on  earth  approves  your  course,  and  is  upon  your 
side;  yes,  and  all  the  spirits  of  the  dead.  *  *  *  Be  assured, 
then,  in  all  your  struggles  in  behalf  of  truth  and  goodness,  that 
ever}'  just  man  upon  earth,  every  happy  spirit  in  the  invisible 
world,  ever>'  angel  in  heaven,  and  what  is  more  than  all,  your 
Redeemer  and  j-our  Heavenly  Father  are  upon  your  side.'"^ 

1  C.  B.,  p.  427. 

—25— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


This  was  ]\Ir.  Emerson's  thought  when  he  said: 

"Be  of  good  cheer,  brave  spirit!  Steadfastly  serve  that  low 
whisper  thou  hast  served.  For  know  God  hath  a  select  famil)  of 
sons  now  scattered  wide  through  earth,  and  each  alone,  who  are 
thy  spiritual  kindred,  and  each  one  by  constant  service  to  that  in- 
ward law  is  weaving  the  sublime  proportion  of  a  true  monarch's 
soul.  Beauty  and  strength,  the  riches  of  a  spotless  memory,  the 
eloquence  of  truth,  the  wisdom  got  by  searching  of  a  clear  and 
loving  eye  that  seeth  as  God  seeth.  These  are  their  gifts,  and 
Time  w^ho  keeps  God's  word,  brings  on  the  day  to  seal  the  mar- 
riage of  these  minds  with  thine,  thine  everlasting  lovers." 

From  childhood  I  have  appreciated  Alexander  Camp- 
bell. He  was  the  patron  saint  of  my  father  and  my 
grandfather.  His  name  was  a  household  word  from  my 
earliest  recollection.  Father  never  used  to  tire  of  telling 
of  his  great  wisdom  and  in  describing  his  poweful  ser- 
mons. Nor  did  I  ever  grow  weary  in  listening  to  the 
mighty  deeds  of  this  wonderful  man.  He  grew  up  into 
my  child-heart  with  such  attachment  that  I  often  felt  I 
had  been  deprived  of  one  of  earth's  chiefest  joys  not  to 
know  him  on  earth.  His  name  was  often  mentioned  by 
the  preachers  who  used  to  visit  our  home,  and  they  added 
to  my  store  of  knowledge.  I  came  to  feel  that  I  knew 
him  so  well  that  if  I  should  meet  him  upon  the  street  I 
would  be  able  to  recognize  him. 

By  the  time  I  had  reached  young  manhood  I  had  this 

conception  of  him.   One  in  wisdom  who  far  surpassed  all 

the  old  Grecian  philosophers  and  even  rivaled  Solomon  in 

all  his  glory.    In  fact  I  thought  of  him  as  in  some  way 

belonging  to  those  Bible  worthies,  only  somehow  he  had, 

—26— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


probably  by  mistake,  been  left  out.  So  wise  he  was  that 
none  in  his  own  age  dared  to  match  minds  with  him.  i 
used  to  wonder  if  ever  again  such  gigantic  mind  would 
attach  itself  to  piece  of  clay.  And  my  loyalty  to  him  was 
as  steadfast  as  my  thought  of  him.  When  I  was  once 
offered  a  scholarship  and  two  hundred  dollars  a  year  if  I 
would  take  a  course  in  one  of  the  largest  and  best  equipped 
colleges  in  America,  I  refused  because  it  was  not  con- 
trolled by  those  who  held  the  faith  of  Mr.  Campbell.  I 
well  remember  the  reply  I  gave  to  the  friend  who  made 
me  this  generous  offer.  "No  professor  knows  anything 
about  truth  unless  he  has  learned  it  from  Alexander 
Campbell."  The  friend  was  assured  of  one  thing,  that  I 
was  a  fit  subject  for  college.  Nevertheless,  one  thing  is 
certain,  I  was  sincere  when  I  believed  that  all  the  wisdom 
of  the  past,  present  and  future  was  vested  in  him.  Ig- 
norance was  bliss ! 

I  had  learned,  too,  of  his  enviable  reputation  in  polem- 
ics and  that  all  feared  his  dominant  trait  of  pugnacity. 
They  told  me  he  could,  with  Bible  in  hand,  whip  the  whole 
world,  and  even  had  completely  demolished  a  number  of 
men  beyond  recognition,  and  that  the  world  had  never 
heard  of  them  since.  Thus  he  became  imaged  upon  my 
mind  as  a  stalwart  fighter.  Not  unlike  the  pictures  I  had 
seen  in  books,  of  ancient  warriors,  except  that  in  place 
of  shield  and  sword,  he  held  the  Bible.  Furthermore,  I 
was  told  that  this  Bible  he  literally  believed  from  cover 
to  cover,  and  that  he  understood  every  word  in  it  to  be 
mightily  inspired  by  God. 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


I  heard  him  quoted  over  and  over  again  by  ministers 
who  used  his  word  freely.  But  generally  he  was  used  to 
pin  down  some  favorite  point  in  doctrinal  dispute.  I  often 
found  myself  going  to  his  books  in  the  same  way,  always 
camping  about  certain  well  trodden  and  sacred  places. 
Nor  did  I  have  any  desire  to  get  far  from  the  camp.  For 
some  years  I  enjoyed  such  an  appreciation  of  Air.  Camp- 
bell. It  was  sincere  as  it  was  loyal,  yet  it  is  not  the  ap- 
preciation that  I  hold  today.  It  was  my  earlier  apprecia- 
tion, but  it  became  old  and  passed  away. 

It  was  during  this  period  in  my  development  that  I 
became  so  depressed  and  pained.  I  had  come  into  contact 
with  the  world's  great  thinkers.  Upon  comparison  I  was 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that  ]\Ir.  Campbell  in  his  world 
of  ideas  was  not  what  he  ought  to  have  been,  conse- 
quently he  fell  into  ruins  all  about  me.  While  I  still 
admired  him  as  a  loyal,  sincere  servant  of  God,  I  thought 
him  in  his  intellectual  holdings,  narrow  and  antiquated. 
A  few  years  I  passed  in  such  delusion.  The  supposition 
that  I  had  learned  him  incorrectly  never  once  occurred 
to  me.  To  go  to  the  sources  and  know  him  from  his  own 
works  had  never  presented  itself  to  my  thought.  How 
often  do  we  go  down  the  years  cherishing  delusions  sim- 
ply from  want  of  investigation! 

It  was  when  studying  at  Oberlin  Seminary  a  few  years 
ago  that  I  came  under  the  spell  of  several  professors  who 
are  masters  of  thought  in  the  theological  world.  And 
here  from  somewhere  out  of  God's  great  universe  the 
thought  flashed  to  me,  to  go  to  the  works  of  Alexander 

—28— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Campbell  and  let  him  speak  for  himself.  For  the  past 
two  years  I  have  pursued  this  task  in  the  midst  of  a  busy 
pastorate.  It  has  been  a  delightful  study  of  which  this 
book  is  the  result. 

Mr.  Campbell  means  more  to  me  now  than  ever  before. 
His  contributions  to  life  have  captivated  my  mind  and 
enriched  my  heart.  I  have  learned  to  love  him  more  and 
more.  My  firm  conviction  is  that  the  world  has  not  yet 
come  to  recognize  his  true  place  in  religious  thought  and 
activity.  That  he  was  a  prophet  speaking  in  much  far 
beyond  his  age,  I  am  impressed.  Thus,  I  have  come  to 
a  new  appreciation  of  Mr.  Campbell.  In  a  thousand  ways 
the  new  far  exceeds  the  old.  I  have  come  to  this  appre- 
ciation from  a  study  of  his  works  in  the  light  of  modern 
thought  and  activity.  What  this  appreciation  is  the  book 
will  disclose.  I  have  determined  to  allow  '\lr.  Camp- 
bell to  speak  for  himself  to  you,  just  as  he  has  to  me. 

The  author  heartily  accords  with  Laura  Gerould  Craig 
in  her  delightful  little  book  ''The  Centennial  Campfire," 
p.  5,  "We  love  to  speak  of  the  fathers  of  the  nineteenth 
century  Reformation  as  'our  fathers'  and  of  the  move- 
ment as  'our  movement.'  Our  appreciation  of  its  purpose 
and  participation  in  its  results  seem  to  impel  this  appro- 
priation. But  such  men,  such  movements,  belong  to  God 
and  the  world." 

Again,  p.  49,  she  quotes  George  D.  Prentice  as  saying : 
"His  intellect  is  among  the  clearest,  richest,  profoundest 
ever  vouchsafed  to  man ;  indeed,  it  seems  to  us  in  the 
quality  of  abstract  thinking  he  has  few,  if  any,  rivals. 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Every  cultivated  person  who  has  heard  Mr.  Campbell 
must  have  been  impressed  with  the  wonderful  faciHty 
with  which  his  faculties  move  in  the  highest  planes  of 
thought.  Surely  the  life  of  a  man  thus  gifted  must  be 
a  part  of  the  treasure  of  society.  In  his  essential  char- 
acter he  belongs  to  no  sect,  but  to  the  world." 

That  Mr.  Campbell's  contributions  to  life  is  a  treasure 
that  the  world  now  needs,  and  that  he  himself  belongs  to 
the  world  is  the  author's  only  apology  for  presenting  this 
book. 

No  one  would  think  of  designating  this  as 
a  destructive  age.  It  is  intensely  constructive 
to  the  smallest  minutia.  Even  a  criticism  of 
the  lives  of  others  need  not  be  destructive,  and 
will  not,  if  we  put  ourselves  into  their  presence 
with  sympathetic  appreciation.  The  very  insight  which 
the  fathers  grant  us  ought  to  enable  us  to  come  to  their 
lives  in  a  constructive  way.  We  do  not  believe  that  they 
saw  all  things  in  their  totality.  We  often  boast  that  we 
can  see  farther  than  did  they.  This  is  the  peculiar  glory 
of  the  heritage  which  they  have  granted  us.  Nor  does 
this  render  them  in  our  estimation  any  less  great.  Since 
they  were  so  large,  we  are  able  to  stand  upon  their  broad 
shoulders  and  get  a  larger,  and  hence,  a  truer  range  of 
things. 

Mr.  Campbell  was  a  many-sided  man.    We  shall  not 

be  able  to  comprehend  him  in  a  moment,  perhaps  not  in  a 

lifetimiC.    He  had  the  soul  of  a  poet,  and  could  penetrate 

beneath  the  crust  and  pierce  the  heart  of  things.  His 

—30— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


ability  in  establishing  his  ideas  upon  the  bedrock  of  truth 
is  amazing.  He  possessed  a  deep  and  abiding  religion 
which  his  soul  experienced  and  enjoyed.  He  was  pro- 
phetic. His  far-seeing  eye  discerned  from  the  signs  of 
the  time,  the  movement  and  trend  of  things.  He  was  a 
liberator,  critic,  educator,  scholar,  theologian,  reformer, 
preacher. 

As  a  theologian,  he  had  a  message  for  his  times,  yet  he 
spoke  for  all  time.  His  message  for  his  own  age  grew 
out  of  the  existing  conditions  plus  his  own  personality. 
His  message  for  all  time  is  the  overflow  of  his  soul  in  his 
experience  of  religion. 

Hie  who  comes  to  his  age  with  a  message  requires  a 
method,  a  scheme  of  thinking  based  in  the  conceptions  of 
his  day.  Otherwise  he  would  be  out  of  touch  with  his 
people  and  could  bring  them  no  vital  message.  Mr.  Camp- 
bell, true  child  of  his  age  that  he  was^  had  such  a  scheme. 
Nevertheless,  it  is  true,  as  all  great  minds  confirm,  that 
in  these  same  truth-bringers  are  truths  inconsistent  with 
their  small  schemes  of  thought,  and  even  transcending 
them.  Such  truth  comes  bursting  from  the  soul  even 
though  there  be  no  place  in  the  scheme  large  enough  to 
hold  it.  This  is  because  the  soul  is  larger  than  the  head. 
The  mind  is  more  than  thinking ;  it  is  feeling  and  willing. 

We  always  know  the  certainty  of  such  truth,  since  the 
soul  knows  its  own.  Such  thoughts  become  an  expression 
of  the  soul.  They  are  born,  not  made.  They  come  as  the 
tide,  flooding  beyond  the  shore.  They  come  as  the  dawn, 
vanishing  the  night-line.    They  come  as  the  song  of  the 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


imprisoned  bird.  They  come  as  the  spring  time,  burst- 
ing the  mould  of  winter.  To  our  Httle  creed-bound  minds 
such  thoughts  come  suggesting  the  soul  of  things  while 
we  awake  to  the  largeness,  light,  and  beauty,  all  about  us. 
Such  is  true  poetry,  the  heart  of  art,  and  the  very  soul 
of  religion.  It  always  finds  us.  It  is  soul  answering 
to  soul. 

The  little  thought  systems  have  their  day  and  hour, 
their  setting  in  the  circumstance.  But  in  one's  religion, 
are  found  the  constant  and  eternal  factors  which  con- 
tinue to  bless  mankind.  The  one,  is  the  letter;  the 
other,  the  spirit.  One,  is  the  husk ;  the  other,  the  ker- 
nel. One,  is  form ;  the  other,  essence.  One,  is  the 
phenomenon  ;  the  other,  reality.  One,  is  the  theological 
expression ;  the  other,  reHgion  itself. 

A  man's  theology  is  a  reasoned,  systematic,  intellectual 
expression  of  what  he  conceives  religion  to  be — what  it 
means  to  him.  His  religion  is  his  life  in  its  relations  with 
not  only  of  thoughts,  but  feelings  and  deeds  often  too 
great  to  classify  and  frequently  bursting  from  the  soul 
spontaneously. 

Hence,  it  is  not  in  the  theology  which  was  partial  and 
for  the  times,  but  in  the  religion  of  Alexander  Campbell 
that  we  will  find  the  constant  truths.  These  are  the  truths 
that  surged  in  his  soul,  longing  for  expression  and  burst 
through  at  rare  and  favored  moments..  So  he  comes  to 
us  not  more  in  what  he  consistently  thought  out,  than  in 
what  he  felt,  did  and  aspired. 

It  is  true,  as  Mr.  Garrison  has  admirably  shown  in  his 
—32— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


scholarly  work  on  "The  Theology  of  Alexander  Camp- 
bell," that  his  theology  was  made  out  of  the  only  materials 
at  hand,  was  for  the  times,  and  is  largely  antiquated. 
This  could  hardly  be  otherwise,  since  theology  is  but  one's 
expression  of  what  religion  means  to  him.  Every  theo- 
logian must  in  this  sense  be  a  child  of  his  own  age  and 
clothe  the  statements  of  his  conception  of  religion  in  the 
language  of  the  day.  This  is  as  true  of  Jesus  and  Paul 
as  of  all  who  followed  them.  The  theological  expression 
is  but  the  lifeless  thought-form  to  convey  the  religion, 
known,  felt  and  experienced  in  the  soul,  to  the  people  of 
one's  age.  And  how  inadequate  they  always  are  even 
at  their  best!  Who  can  hope  to  convey  in  words  to  an- 
other, the  felt  joy  or  bliss  ?  Where  is  the  thought-scheme 
large  enough  to  transmit  the  love  that  soul  feels  for  soul  ? 
How  often  does  the  longing  soul  grow  dumb  in  the  effort 
and  leave  the  rest  to  silence !  The  barrenness  of  all  lan- 
guage to  express  this  relation  of  God  to  his  children  was 
one  of  the  constant  recognitions  of  Mr.  Campbell.  It 
was  one  of  those  lofty  themes  which  ever  taxed  his  pow- 
ers of  eloquence.  Feeling  this  futile  power  of  words  to 
voice  religion  in  the  soul  he  exclaims : 

"On  such  a  theme,  who  would  not  wish  to  be  eloquent!  But 
how  can  we  equal  in  style  a  subject  which,  when  but  faintly  and  in 
prospective  viewed,  exhausted  the  sublimest  strains  of  heaven- 
taught  prophets,  and  of  poets  fired  with  God's  own  inspiration — 
whose  hallowed  lips  tasted  not  the  fabled  springs  of  Pagan  muses, 
but  the  fountain  of  living  waters,  springing  from  eternal  love ! 
Yet,  even  these  failed  to  lisp  its  praise.  Nay,  the  brightest  seraph 
that  burns  in  heavenly  light,  fails  in  his  best  effort,  and,  in  pro- 
(3)  —33— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


found  thought  pores  over  the  marvellous  theme.  The  compassion 
of  the  eternal  God,  the  benevolence  and  philanthropy  of  the  Father 
of  the  whole  family  in  heaven  and  in  earth  toward  us,  the  fallen 
children  of  his  love,  has  transcended  the  loftiest  grasp  of  the 
highest  intelligence,  and  made  to  falter  the  most  expressive 
tongue  in  all  the  ranks  of  heavenly  powers.  In  all  the  raptur- 
ous flights  of  those  morning  stars  of  creation,  in  all  the 
ecstatic  acclamations  of  those  elder  sons  of  God,  the  theme  has 
not  been  reached;  and  though  they  have  tuned  their  harps  a 
thousand  times  and  swelled  their  voices  in  full  chorus  in  count- 
less efforts,  yet,  the  theme  is  still  unequalled,  and,  as  it  were,  un- 
touched. Vain,  then,  would  be  the  attempt  and  fruitless  every 
effort,  to  express  in  corresponding  terms,  a  subject  so  divine. 
Indeed  we  have  no  language,  we  have  not  been  taught  an  alphabet 
adapted  to  such  a  theme.  'Come,  then,  expressive  silence,  muse  its 
praise!"'^ 

On  the  Other  hand,  the  religious  truths  are  constant. 
They  come  to  each  age  with  the  demand  that  they  be 
dressed,  not  in  a  fashion  long  gone  by,  but  in  newly  chos- 
•en  forms,  in  styles  adapted  to  the  requirements  and  cul- 
ture of  the  age.  But  the  dress  changes  not  the  essential 
nature  of  the  truth.  Liberty  is  always  liberty,  righteous- 
ness is  always  righteousness,  and  love  is  always  love,  re- 
gardless of  the  dress  of  time.  It  is  the  constant  factors 
that  are  purposed  to  stand  out  in  these  selections  from 
Mr.  Campbell.  The  great  abiding  religious  truths  which 
so  mightily  stirred  in  his  soul  for  utterance  and  made  him 
ever  restless  till  they  came  forth. 

It  may  be  out  of  his  many  volumes  he  would  have 
spoken  different  words  to  you.   The  author  is  fully  aware 

1  Liv.  Or.,  p.  26. 

—34— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


that  what  we  carry  away  from  a  great  personality  de- 
pends largely  upon  what  we  bring.  The  master  work  of 
art  is  to  one  a  few  lines  and  colors,  worth  only  a  casual 
glance.  To  another  it  is  all  this  and  much  more.  It 
presents  to  the  eye  a  delightful  picture.  In  the  associa- 
tions of  the  soul  it  has  a  significance  which  is  life  itself. 
It  becomes  a  joy  forever.  It  is  soul  of  my  soul.  So  the 
author  brings  only  what  Alexander  Campbellbringstohim. 

The  author  is,  also,  conscious  of  the  fact,  that  really 
great  minds  are  subject  to  inconsistencies.  A  very  small 
mind  has  such  few  relations  with  life  as  to  have  them 
tied  at  both  ends.  Such  a  mind  is  comprehensive  to  itself 
and  to  all  others.  But  a  mind  that  opens  itself  to  God's 
vast  universe  touches  too  much  of  life  for  full  and  ade- 
quate expression  for  it  all.  This  fact  furnishes  the  rea- 
son why  Aristotle,  Kant,  Hegel,  Luther  and  even  Jesus 
have  each  had  such  a  varied  following.  For  instance, 
Paul  finds  in  Jesus  his  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith 
only,  and  James  his  doctrine  that  faith  without  works  is 
dead,  being  alone.  Both  of  these  ideas  are  found  in  Jesus, 
but  while  one  built  upon  one  side  of  the  Master's  truth, 
the  other  built  upon  the  other  side.  Men  in  following 
others  often  become  extremists  in  the  partial.  It  may 
be  that  you  in  coming  to  Mr.  Campbell's  many-sided 
thought  would  have  followed  a  different  trend.  Be  that 
as  it  may,  after  all  it  still  remains  that  we  get  largely  what 
we  bring.  The  author  brought  to  him  his  own  experi- 
ence and  let  him  speak  to  him.   Says  President  King:^ 

2  The  Seeming  Unreality  of  the  Spiritual  I,ife,  p.  41. 

—35-- 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


"After  all,  the  one  great  teacher  is  life,  and  our  best  words  to 
another  of  even  the  deepest  in  us  must  fall  resultless,  until  life  has 
brought  to  the  other  the  experience  out  of  which  the  words  can  be 
interpreted.  *  *  *  " 

In  Whitman's  putting: 

"  'No  one  can  acquire  for  another — not  one, 

No  one  can  grow  for  another — not  one. 

The  song  is  to  the  singer,  and  comes  back  most  to  him, 

The  teaching  is  to  the  teacher,  and  comes  back  most  to  him.' " 

Mr.  Campbell  was  not  only  largely  capacitated  for  the 
reception  of  truth,  but  in  dispensing  truth,  he  had  that 
■fine  sense  of  adaptation  which  is  characteristic  of  great- 
ness. In  his  teaching  and  preaching  he  gave  constant  rec- 
ognition to  that  fundamental  pedagogical  law,  that  truth, 
in  order  to  be  received  and  avail  good,  must  be  leveled 
to  the  capacity  of  the  hearer.  Such  a  course  often  makes 
one  appear  inconsistent.  The  teacher's  instruction  about 
the  star  would  to  the  child  be  quite  different  than  to  the 
man  of  celestial  knowledge,  if  to  each  any  beneficial 
knowledge  were  brought. 

He  speaks  about  the  Savior's  pedagogical  method  in 
veiling  his  mission  through  the  medium  of  parables.  Only 
by  degrees,  from  the  known  to  the  unknown,  does  he 
teach.  And  this,  too,  "as  the  contingencies  of  his  public 
ministrations  required."  So  about  some  lofty  truths 
which  he  desires  to  impart  to  the  people  he  says  of  the 
Savior's  method: 

"We  wish  to  imitate  him  in  this  particular,  so  far  as  we  can 
have  the  full  assurance  of  understanding,  and  so  far  only  as  the 

—36— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 

contingencies  of  the  present  living  world  may  render  it  convenient 
and  fitting.  He  spake  in  parables  and  he  spake  without  them,  and 
we  see  no  good  reason  why  his  example  in  this  particular  should 
not  in  certain  conditions  and  circumstances  be  both  prudential  and 
useful."^ 

Of  Mr.  Campbeirs  prudence  in  adaptation,  Dr.  W.  T. 

Moore,  who  sat  under  the  "Sage  of  Bethany"  as  pupil, 
speaks.  On  the  reason  why  Mr.  Campbell  spoke  with 
such  reserve  in  his  popular  lectures  to  young  men  on  the 
subject  of  Geology  he  mentions  the  recency  of  the  science 
and  its  slowness  in  establishing  itself  upon  a  firm  basis. 
He  says:^ 

''This,  doubtless,  was  one  reason  why  he  did  not  ven- 
ture much  upon  it.  But  there  was  another  all-controlling 
reason  which  influenced  him,  and  this  will  at  once  ex- 
plain in  a  satisfactory  manner  to  all  unprejudiced  minds, 
why  he  so  summarily  disposed  of  the  difficulties  between 
the  Geological  and  Mosaic  records.  He  was  speaking,  to 
a  class  of  young  men,  many  of  whom  knew  little  or  noth- 
ing about  geology,  whose  faith  in  the  Christian  religion 
might  easily  have  been  shaken  by  an  attempt  to  harmonize 
the  Geological  and  Mosaic  accounts,  when  it  must  neces- 
sarily be  done  at  the  apparent  expense  of  the  latter.  To 
treat  the  whole  subject  of  Geology  so  that  all  the  stu- 
dents could  understand  its  teachings,  in  a  course  of  popu- 
lar lectures  not  intended  especially  for  such  subjects,  was 
simply  impossible.  Hence,  it  was  better  to  dispose  of 
all  questions  of  this  kind  by  confining  himself  to  the  plain 
statements  of  the  Bible.    *    *         For  this  we  ought  to 

1  Mill.  Har.  1860,  p.  308. 

1  Lect.  on  Pent.,  pp.  139, 140. 

—37— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


commend  him,  and  especially  for  the  good  sense  he  mani- 
fested in  refusing  to  embark  on  the  ocean  of  speculation, 
while  addressing  a  class  of  young  men  who  were  wholly 
unprepared  for  it."  One  of  the  greatest  teachers  of  young 
men  in  America  said  that  he  in  his  teaching  never  sug- 
gested doubts  to  the  mind,  but  when  those  doubts  arose 
out  of  the  mind's  own  understanding  of  things,  he,  then, 
explained,  and  elucidated.  He  first  let  the  doubt  arise, 
but  did  not  plant  it. 

Mr.  Campbell  puts  the  matter  in  this  plain,  biblical 
fashion : 

"We  should  consider  the  circumstances  of  any  people  before 
we  address  them.  Do  we  address  Jews?  Let  us  address  them  as 
the  Apostles  did.  Persuade  them  out  of  their  own  law  that  Jesus 
is  the  Messiah.  Do  we  address  professed  Christians?  Let  us  imi- 
tate the  Apostolic  addresses  in  the  epistles." 

"Do  we  preach  to  Barbarians?  Let  us  address  them  as  Paul 
preached  to  the  Lycaonians.  Speak  to  their  consciences.  Do  we 
preach  to  polished  infidels  or  idolaters?  Let  us  speak  to  them  as 
Paul  spake  to  the  Athenians.  Speak  to  their  consciences."* 

Again,  he  says: 

"On  some  occasions,  we  must  indeed,  address  ourselves  to  all 
classes,  conditions,  and  forms  of  humanity,  and  therefore,  we 
must,  as  the  great  Teacher  and  his  great  Apostle  did,  'become  all 
things  to  all  men,'  and  speak  all  things  to  all  men  in  adaptation  to 
their  conditions  and  capacities.'" 

In  thus  fitting  the  truth  to  the  condition  he  was  enabl- 
ed to  put  the  Bible  to  its  designed  use.  First,  to  come  to 

1  Hist.  Doc.,  p.  278.         •  Mill.  Har.  1858,  p.  455. 

—38— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


such  a  knowledge  of  it  himself  as  to  bring  his  own  soul 
into  harmony  with  God,  and  then  to  bring  it  to  others 
in  such  a  way,  in  such  adaptation  to  their  mental  hold- 
ings, that  they,  too,  might  lay  hold  of  it  and  come  into 
that  Divine  fellowship.  Such  is  the  only  proper  method 
of  conveying  truth,  yet  it  has  the  peculiar  effect  of  pre- 
senting a  varied  whole  when  the  several  teachings  are 
brought  together.  This  accounts  for  many  of  the  so- 
thought  inconsistencies. 

No,  the  fathers  are  not  dead!  They  are  still  living  and 
at  work  in  the  world.  The  word  and  spirit  of  Mr.  Camp- 
bell still  live.  Today  he  is  lifting  up  his  voice  as  tri- 
umphantly as  he  did  a  century  ago.  Today  just  as  truly 
as  throughout  the  past  century  he  is  going  up  and  down 
our  land,  championing  the  cause  of  religious  freedom, 
calling  for  peace  and  harmony  among  men,  and  pleading 
for  the  education  of  man.  He  still  lives,  and  through 
thousands  of  great  personalities  touched  by  his  own,  he 
calls  to  the  twentieth  century  to  come  up  higher.  David's 
word  in  Browning's  Saul  is  true  of  Mr.  Campbell: 
"Each  deed  thou  hast  done 

Dies,  revives,  goes  to  work  in  the  world;  until  e'en  as  the  sun 
Looking  down  on  the  earth,  tho'  clouds  spoil  him,  tho'  tempests 
efface, 

Can  find  nothing  his  own  deed  produced  not,  must  everywhere 
trace 

The  results  of  his  past  summer  prime, — so  each  ray  of  thy  will. 
Every  flash  of  thy  passion,  and  prowess,  long  over,  shall  thrill 
Thy  whole  people,  the  countless,  with  ardour,  till  they  too  give 
forth 

A  like  cheer  to  their  sons;  who  in  turn,  fill  the  South  and  the 
North 

With  the  radiance  thy  deed  was  the  germ  of." 

—39— 


CHAPTER  n. 
Liberty  and  Progress. 


There  is  no  grand  poem  in  the  world  but  is  at  bottom  a  biog- 
raphy— the  life  of  a  man. — Carlyle. 

I  had  my  choice  when  I  commenced.  I  bid  neither  for  soft 
eulogies,  big  money  returns,  nor  the  approbation  of  existing 
schools  and  conventions.  As  now  fulfilled  after  thirty  years, 
the  best  of  my  achievement  is,  that  I  have  had  my  say  entirely 
my  own  way,  and  put  it  unerringly  on  record — the  value  thereof 
to  be  decided  by  time. — Walt  Whitman. 

Authority  says  to  it: — Rest  luhere  thou  art;  I  alone  strike 
the  hour  of  the  march;  ZL'hen  I  am  silent  everything  should  rest, 
for  all  progress  zvhich  is  accomplished  without  me  and  beyond 
me,  is  impious.  The  human  mind  interrogates  itself;  it  feels 
its  own  right  and  power;  it  finds  the  germ  of  progress  is  in 
itself,  that  strength  and  right  come  to  it  from  God,  and  not 
from  an  intermediate  power  coming  between  itself  and  God,  as 
if  charged  to  lead  it. — Mazzini. 

I  have  faith  in  God,  in  the  power  of  truth,  and  in  the  his- 
toric logic  of  things.  I  feel  in  my  inmost  heart  that  the  delay 
is  not  for  long.  The  principle  which  was  the  soul  of  the  Old 
World  is  exhausted.  It  is  our  part  to  clear  the  way  for  the 
new  principle;  and  should  we  perish  in  the  undertaking,  it  shall 
yet  be  cleared. — ^Mazzini. 


—42— 


CHAPTER  II. 


LIBERTY  AND  PROGRESS. 

"And  lo !  the  fullness  of  the  time  has  come, 
And  over  all  the  exile's  Western  home, 
From  sea  to  sea  the  flowers  of  freedom  bloom!" 

At  the  beginning  of  the  19th  century  this  was  not  all 
poetry,  neither  was  it  all  fact ;  else  no  place  had  been  for 
the  Old  World's  gift  to  the  New.  In  the  year  1809 
Scotland  and  Ireland  joined  hands  in  giving  to  America 
a  young  man  of  twenty-one,  educated  in  the  University  of 
Glasgow,  and  by  nature  splendidly  endowed.  In  his  great 
nature  the  spirit  of  freedom  hulked  large.  Into  this  land 
of  freedom  he  came  with  the  spirit  of  liberty  throbbing 
mightily  in  his  breast.  With  many  other  of  the  large 
souls  of  his  day  he  felt, 

"We  must  be  free  or  die,  who  speak  the  tongue 
That  Shakespeare  spake;  the  Faith  and  morals  hold 
Which  Milton  held." 

In  Alexander  Campbell  America  obtained  one  in  whom 
the  spirit  of  liberty  not  only  grew  strong  with  the  years, 
but  whose  spirit  was  ever  restless  till  freedom^s  thought 
became  deed. 

Bright  was  the  land  with  prospect  and  auspicious 
the  new  century,  as  he  stepped  ashore  in  the  New  World 
to  work  out  his  life's  task.    Such  life  must  find  fullest 

—43— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


expression.  It  becomes  necessary  to  test  the  mettle  of 
the  man.  Herein  environment  must  meet  man  half  way. 
There  must  be  no  shackles  of  bondage,  no  narrow  con- 
finement. He  must  find  room  to  act,  else  he  must  make 
room.  Mr.  Campbell,  himself,  felt  such  need  for  per- 
sonality when  he  said : 

"To  know  the  force  of  character  of  any  individual,  he  must 
be  placed  in  a  position  on  a  theater  where  he  has  room  to 
act  his  part  fully.  Few  persons  ever  know  themselves  or  their 
most  intimate  friends  and  relatives,  because  of  the  want  of 
opportunity  of  developing  themselves."^ 

Mr,  Campbell  was  well  aware  that  America,  with  all 
its  boast  of  freedom,  was  not  wholly  free ;  and  the  world 
for  which  he  existed  still  less.  Yet  America  furnished 
room,  the  most  opportune  room,  through  which  he  might 
reach  the  whole  world.  Though  the  times  were  out  of 
joint,  he  was  not  one  to  sit  and  wait  for  better  conditions. 
At  once  he  arose  and  delivered  himself  in  the  spirit  of 
the  poet: 

"Heredity  bondsmen!    Know  ye  not. 
Who  would  be  free,  themselves  must 
Strike  the  blow?" 

From  the  year  of  his  landing,  1809,  till  his  death,  1866^/ 
he  ceased  not  to  strike.  And  every  blow  was  a  blow 
for  freedom.  To  him,  the  first  consideration  in  a  true 
protestantism  is  liberty.  This  is  fundamental  since  it  is 
inherent.    He  says : 

"The  dearest  liberty  on  earth  is  liberty  of  conscience;  and 

1  Add.,  p.  62. 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


this  lost,  all  other  liberty  is  but  a  name — a  charm  that  lulls  to 
sleep."^ 

Again 

"Freedom  of  thought,  and  freedom  of  action,  within  the 
prescribed  area  of  rational  and  responsible  beings,  are  the 
zenith  of  all  the  aspirations  of  the  human  heart."^ 

It  is  more  than  a  curious  interest  in  historical  obser- 
vation to  witness  with  what  forces  great  characters  ally 
themselves.  The  side  one  takes  is  often  an  index  to  his 
character.  Mr.  Campbell  joined  himself  to  the  side  of 
progress.  Before  many  of  us  were  born  he  had  already 
felt  the  thrill  of  the  New  Age.  The  19th  Century,  the 
age  which  saw  progress,  had  burst  upon  the  world. 
Air.  Campbell  felt  that  to  close  his  eyes  to  progress 
would  be  to  be  blind  toward  God.  Not  to  face  progress 
would  be  to  turn  his  back  upon  Heaven.  The  fellow- 
ship of  the  new  was  communion  with  the  Divine.  To 
be  out  of  harmony  with  the  19th  Century  spirit  of  prog- 
ress was  to  be  out  of  tune  with  the  Infinite.  So  he 
says, 

"The  intellectual  nature  vouchsafed  to  man  communes  with 
the  Supreme  Intelligence  in  all  his  various  and  boundless  works; 
and  such  is  its  love  of  new  ideas,  of  new  conceptions  of  the 
almighty  source  of  its  being  and  bliss,  that  if  it  could  imagine 
any  fixed  summit  of  its  attainments,  even  in  the  heavens,  beyond 
which  it  could  add  no  new  discoveries,  that  summit  would  be 
the  boundary  of  its  glory  and  of  bliss;  and  repining,  as  did  the 
Grecian  chief,  that  no  new  worlds  were  yet  to  be  conquered, 

1  Bapt.,  p.  409.         2  I^t.  on  Pent.,  p.  146. 

—45— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


heaven  itself  would  cease  to  be  the  place  of  infinite  delight,  the 
ultimate  and  eternal  home  of  man."^ 

IMoreover  he  feels  that  in  order  to  be  in  touch  with 
one's  own  age,  to  do  it  any  real  service,  he  must  have 
the  open  mind.  This  is  especially  true  of  young  men 
whom  he  addresses  in  these  words, 

"You  owe  it  to  yourselves,  your  country  and  the  human  race, 
to  understand  the  genius  and  character  of  your  own  age,  and 
its  bearing  upon  the  future,  as  far  as  you  can."^ 

This  is  all  the  more  necessary  to  him  at  the  present 
time,  since, 

"There  are  new  phenomena  in  our  heavens,  and  new  devel- 
opments in  our  country  and  age  which  claim,  and  must  com- 
mand our  attention.  The  age  and  the  country  we  live  in  are 
onward  in  their  career,  and  we  should  be  onward  in  our  en- 
deavors to  keep  up  with  them;  and  we  should  individually,  and 
in  our  concerted  and  concurrent  action  co-operate  with  the  spirit 
and  tendency  of  our  times."^ 

He  was  not  one  to  rest  in  the  popular  idea,  so  de- 
pressing to  human  eft'ort,  that  all  the  great  and  capable 
men  had  lived  in  the  past.  With  him  past  efficiency 
made  present  greatness  not  only  possible,  but  gave  to 
it  greater  reaches.    He  says, 

"We  live  now  in  the  evening  of  the  19th  Century — standing 
upon  the  giant  shoulders  of  the  great  men  of  Pagandom  and 
Romandom ;  and  with  a  government  resting  upon  these  Herculean 
columns,  we  occupy  a  position,  in  art,  science  and  literature, 
transcendently  paramount  to  that  attained  or  enjoyed  by  any 

1  Add.,  p.  123.         2  Add.,  p.  502.         3  Mill.  Har.  1860,  p.  5. 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


other  people  or  nation,  that  has  ever  figured  in  the  grand  drama 
of  political  or  religious  history."^ 

Not  in  the  past  was  the  golden  age.  His  face  was  to- 
ward the  future.  His  fine  sense  of  progress  saw  things 
in  evolution, — they  were  becoming.    He  says, 

"Society  is  not  yet  fully  civilized.  It  is  only  beginning  to 
be.  Things  are  in  process,  in  progress  to  another  age — a 
golden — a  millennial — a  blissful  period  in  human  history.'" 

Again  he  concords  with  a  great  philosopher  and  histo- 
rian whom  he  quotes, 

"Society  and  civilization  are  yet  in  their  childhood.  How- 
ever great  the  distance  they  have  advanced,  that  which  they  have 
before  them  is  incomparably,  is  infinitely  greater.'" 

The  ipth  Century  has  distinguished  two  classes  of 
people.  The  incoming  revolution  of  change  in  thought 
and  in  the  conception  of  things  drew  the  dividing  line. 
One  class  in  their  outlook  upon  life  closed  their  eyes 
to  the  new.  They  felt  that  the  land  was  not  able  to 
bear  so  much  that  was  strange  and  contrary  to  repose. 
The  new  idea  was  overwhelming  and  upsetting,  and 
even  required  renewed  effort  since  it  called  for  readjust- 
ment. They  said,  "The  old  is  good  enough.  If  the 
new  had  been  true  the  fathers  who  were  wiser  than  we 
would  long  ago  have  discovered  it."  A  sad  and  sorry 
spectacle  they  presented.  Having  eyes,  they  saw  not; 
and  having  ears,  they  heard  not.  Still  clutching  the 
old,  though  it  had  become  threadbare  and  meaningless. 
Fearing  the  new,  they  grew  faint  hearted  and  dejected 

1  I,ect.  on  Pent.,  p.  145.        2  Add.,  p.  69.        8  Add.,  p.  54. 

—47— 


'Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


in  spirit;  still  they  cherished  the  old  and  turned  their 
hearts  as  stone  toward  progress.  The  other  class  opened 
their  minds  to  the  incoming  tide,  while  their  hearts  grew 
responsive.  These  recognized  a  changed  world  and  the 
necessary  struggle  for  readjustment.  But  they  did  not 
begrudge  the  toil.  Even  when  compelled  to  yield  up  the 
conceptions  that  had  cost  them  so  much  and  had  grown 
dear  in  association,  they  felt  that  truth  brought  its  own 
reward. 

If  compelled  to  surrender  our  old  opinions  about  mat- 
ters we  have  obtained  in  exchange  a  richer  and  truer 
knowledge.  It  is  but  giving  up  a  small  perspective  for 
a  large  perspective.  Into  such  relations  to  God's  vast 
universe  are  we  brought,  that  face  to  face  we  may  see 
him  marshaling  his  af¥airs  ~  and  seeing  the  Invisible, 
we  still  live.  We  may  be  forced  to  give  up  our  time 
relations,  but  the  larger,  grander,  and  more  glorious 
eternal  relations  are  ours.  Yet  how  seldom  do  we  open 
our  minds  to  these  larger  relations!    It  is  true, 

"That  mind  and  soul  according  well 
May  make  one  music  as  before, 
But— vaster." 

These  progressive  spirits  have  ever  been  buoyant  with 
hope.  They  are  the  optimists  of  their  age.  They  are 
the  men  of  faith  who  believe  that 

"God's  in  His  Heaven, 
All's  right  with  the  world." 

They  are  the  world's  prophets  pointing  up  to  God.  Every 

—48— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


new  condition  is  to  such  an  inspiration  to  bestir  them- 
selves in  the  struggle  of  life  and  to  gain  victory. 

^Ir.  Campbell  became  one  of  the  most  progressive 
spirits  of  his  day.  To  those  who  failed  to  feel  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  day  and  turned  their  eyes  only  to  the  past, 
finding  there  the  consummation  of  all  glory  and  perfec- 
tion, he  says, 

"The  world,  many  think,  is  too  old,  and  men  have  reflected 
so  deeply  on  all  subjects  that  there  is  nothing  to  be  originated, 
and  little  advance  to  be  made  in  any  department  of  thought. 
This  is  a  great  mistake.  The  last  four  hundred  years  have 
done  more,  by  new  discoveries  and  inventions,  to  improve  human 
circumstances,  than  the  twelve  hundred  years  before."^ 

So  great  is  this  revolution  that  ^Ir.  Campbell  designates 
it  as  the  "March  of  Mind,''  "the  age  of  reason,"  and 
"brilliant  advances  into  the  mysteries  of  Nature."  He 
goes  on  to  say, 

"Certain  it  is,  that  we  are  not  satisfied  with  ourselves,  and 
that  a  spirit  of  inquiry,  revolution  and  change  is  now  abroad  in 
the  land,  which  no  man  can  limit  or  restrain."^ 

He  was  not  alone  in  his  outlook  upon  the  changing 
order  of  things.  It  is  the  dominant  note  of  19th  Century 
thinkers.  W.  T.  Stead  says :  "Everywhere  the  old  order 
is  changing  and  giving  place  to  the  new.  The  human 
race  is  now  at  one  of  the  crucial  periods  in  its  history 
when  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  are  broken  up, 
and  the  flood  of  change  submerges  all  the  old-established 


IC.  B.,p.  639.         2  Add.,  p.  311. 


"Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


institutions  and  conventions  in  the  midst  of  which  pre- 
ceding generations  have  Uved  and  died." 

All  departments  of  science  have  been  completely  revo- 
lutionized. Prof.  Fisk,  philosopher  and  historian,  says: 
"In  their  mental  habits,  in  their  methods  of  inquiry, 
and  in  the  data  at  tlieir  command,  the  men  of  the  pres- 
ent day  wJio  have  fully  kept  pace  with  the  scientific  move- 
ment are  separated  from  the  men  whose  education  ended 
in  1830  by  an  unmeasurably  wider  gulf  than  has  ever 
before  divided  one  progressive  generation  of  men  from 
their  predecessors."^  Prof.  Alford  Russel  Wallace  says: 
*'To  get  any  adequate  comparison  with  the  19th  Century 
we  must  take,  not  any  preceding  century,  or  group  of 
centuries,  but  rather  the  whole  preceding  epoch  of  hu- 
man history." 

]Many  conspiring  forces  have  brought  the  new-world 
conditions.  Josiah  Strong  declared :  "We  are  entering 
on  a  new  era,  of  which  the  2(}th  Century  will  be  the 
beginning  for  which  the  19th  Century  has  been  the  prep- 
aration." There  have  been  great  physical  changes,  in 
which  steam  and  electricity  have  figured  prominently. 
The  ocean  passage,  which  once  required  weeks,  is  now 
a  matter  of  but  a  few  days.  Inventions  aftecting  time 
and  space  have  brought  nearer  together  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  which  God  has  made  of  one  blood.  Much 
of  the  progress  has  been  since  ]\Ir.  CampbelFs  day. 
Though  he  saw  it  coming,  felt  its  thrill  and  became  its 
prophet  to  his  age.    Wireless  telegraphy  is  a  thing  of 

1  The  Idea  of  God,  p.  56. 

—50— 


Alexander  CampheU  and  Christian  Liberty. 


yesterday.  Today  you  may  step  into  your  telegraph 
office  and  communicate  with  your  friend  in  mid-Atlantic, 
over  one  hundred  ocean  liners  being  equipped  with  wire- 
less telegraphy. 

The  perfection  of  the  microscope  brings  to  our  eye& 
the  myriads  of  life  a  thousand  times  too  small  to  be 
se6«  by  the  naked  eye.  The  Copernican  Astronomy  with 
telescope  and  spectroscope  brings  the  millions  of  other 
worlds  to  our  very  doors.  And  we  not  only  measure 
their  distances,  but  tell  what  they  are  made  of.  The 
study  of  geology  was  first  placed  upon  a  scientific  basis 
in  1830;  wonderful  have  been  its  triumphs  since  that 
day !  We  have  also  a  nevv^  physics,  a  new  biology,  and 
a  new  chemistry! 

Balfour,  in  his  Cambridge  address,  declared:  "No 
century  has  seen  so  great  a  change  in  our  intellectual 
apprehension  of  the  world  in  which  we  live  as  the  nine- 
teenth !"  A  vast  sky  canopies  today  and  he  who  thinks 
he  has  an  imagination  that  grasps  it  all  has  only  ceased 
to  think!  Skilled  specialists  fill  every  department  of 
thought  and  activity.  History  has  been  re-stated  not 
only  in  its  facts,  but  principles.  The  archaeologist  with 
his  spade  has  overturned  our  former  theories  and  out- 
ruled  our  chronology,  giving  us  a  high  civilization  long 
before  Adam,  according  to  our  accepted  Bible  chronol- 
ogy. The  study  of  comparative  religions,  which  is  very 
recent,  opens  for  us  the  religious  books  of  humanity. 
Theology  is  being  re-stated  and  creeds  revised  or  thrown 
away. 

—51— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


No  more  extensive  or  revolutionary  has  been  man's 
outward  expansion  than  his  inward  scrutiny.  Amid  the 
blaze  of  worlds  he  is  made  to  cry  out  with  the  Psalmist, 
''What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him?"  Not  a 
poor  worm  of  the  dust,  as  some  have  proclaimed. 

The  new  psycholog}'  comes  forth  in  these  days,  con- 
firming the  revelation  of  the  Hebrew  poet,  "Thou  hast 
made  him  a  little  lower  than  God,  and  crownest  him 
with  glory  and  honor."  In  the  words  of  a  great  thinker, 
"IMan  is  neither  the  master  nor  the  slave  of  nature ;  he 
is  the  interpreter.  I\Ian  consummates  the  universe  and 
gives  a  voice  to  the  mute  creation."  Psychology  and 
pedagogy  have  turned  our  eyes  within,  and  we  behold 
the  image  and  likeness  of  God — and  truth  is  there.  We 
are  learning  to  approach  man  in  the  interests  of  heaven, 
not  with  a  feeling  that  he  is  z  miserable  creature  to 
whom  we  bring  a  God,  but  desiring  to  tear  away  the 
barriers  so  that  God  and  the  Truth  already  there  may 
shine  out.    Browning  puts  it  right  in  Paracelsus : 

"Truth  is  within  ourselves;  it  takes  no  rise 
From  outward  things,  whate'er  you  may  believe : 
There  is  an  inmost  center  in  us  all, 
Where  truth  abides  in  fulness ;  and  around 
Wall  upon  wall,  the  gross  flesh  hems  it  in, 
This  perfect,  clear  perception — which  is  truth; 
A  baffling  and  perverting  carnal  mesh. 
Blinds  it,  and  makes  all  error;  and  'to  know' 
Rather  consists  in  opening  out  a  way 
Whence  the  imprisoned  splendor  may  escape. 
Than  in  effecting  entry  for  a  light 
Supposed  to  be  without." 

A  world-wide  revival  in  child  study  is  already  In  prog- 
—52— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


ress.  Past  neglect  and  future  possibilities  are  duly  rec- 
ognized, and  public  schools  are  equipping  themselves  with 
modern  appliances.  We  are  living  in  a  sublime  age ! 
The  educational  impulse  is  sweeping  through  the  world ! 
Schools,  colleges  and  great  universities  feel  the  new 
life  thrill!  These  tendencies  Mr.  Campbell  fully  recog- 
nized in  his  day,  as  in  an  address  on  education  he  says, 

"This  spirit  of  free  inquiry  first  seized  the  church,  then  the 
state,  then  the  colleges,  then  the  schools;  and  now,  even  now,  in 
the  second  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  it  has  invaded  not 
only  the  penetralia  of  every  temple,  but  even  the  inmost  recesses 
of  the  nurser}',  the  infant  head,  the  infant  brain ;  and,  in  full 
harmony  with  the  divining  spirit  of  the  age,  are  we  now  in 
solemn  conclave  assembled  to  inquire  if  aught  of  error  yet  re- 
mains unscathed,  or  of  truth  discovered,  in  the  most  useful 
among  sciences  and  arts — that  of  educating  man."^ 

In  a  general  way  Lotze  characterizes  the  new  age  as 
"that  enlightenment,  destroying  in  order  to  reconstruct, 
which  sought  to  break  the  dominion  of  all  prejudice,  and 
to  undermine  every  ill-founded  belief.'" 

It  is  in  the  religious  sphere  that  Mr.  Campbell  finds 
his  task.  In  this  realm  the  change  to  him  is  not  only 
widely  evident,  but  most  momentous.    He  says, 

"Things  ecclesiastic  are  moving  forward  to  a  new  issue.  The 
Christian  system  is  undergoing  an  examination  in  the  present 
day,  both  as  to  its  evidence  and  signification,  wholly  unprece- 
dented since  the  days  of  the  grand  defection."^ 

Again  he  says, 

"This  is  one  of  the  most  momentous  and  eventful  periods 
1  Add.,  p.  455.        2  Microcosmus,  Vol.  II,  p.  286.        3  ch.  Sys.,  p.  12. 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


of  the  history  of  Christianity  since  the  commencement  of  our 
recollection  of  the  religious  world,  and,  we  think,  from  the 
commencement  of  the  present  century.  All  religious  denomi- 
nations are  shaking.  Christians  in  all  parties  are  looking  with 
inquisitive  eyes  into  the  sacred  books,  and  examining  the  plat- 
forms of  their  respective  schismatical  establishments.  Many 
run  to  and  fro,  and  knowledge  is  on  the  increase  *  *  the  cry 
of  'Reform!'  is  now  the  loudest  and  longest  which  falls  upon 
the  ear  from  all  the  winds  of  heaven.  Light  mental,  as  light 
natural,  is  one  of  the  most  insinuating  powers,  and  the  most  ir- 
resistible and  rapid  in  its  progress,  we  know  anything  of.  Its 
'swift-winged  arrows  pierce  the  deep  recesses  of  human  hearts, 
and  carry  down  the  true  images  of  things  to  the  retina  of  the 
human  soul.  The  Bible,  the  foundation  of  religious  light,  is 
more  generally  distributed  and  more  generally  read  now  than  at 
any  former  period.  Even  the  measures  often  designed  to  up- 
hold religious  sects,  are  becoming  battering  rams  to  break 
down  the  walls  of  separation.  Every  day's  report  brings  to  our 
ears  some  new  triumph  of  light  over  darkness — of  truth  over 
error — and  of  liberal  minds  over  the  enslaved  and  enslaving 
genius  of  sectarian  despotism."^ 

But  is  there  not  great  danger  in  opening  the  mind 
to  new  truth?  Mr.  Campbell  believed  that  the  greater 
danger  lay  on  the  side  of  the  closed  mind.    He  says, 

"We  live  in  the  midst  of  a  great  moral  revolution.  Opinions 
held  sacred  by  our  fathers,  usages  consecrated  by  the  devotion 
of  ages,  institutions  venerated  by  the  most  venerable  of  mankind 
are  now  subjected  to  the  same  cold,  rigid  analysis,  and  made  to 
pass  through  the  same  unsparing  ordeal,  to  which  the  most  anti- 
quated errors  and  the  most  baseless  hypotheses  of  the  most 
reckless  innovators  are  not  so  unmercifully  doomed  *  *  Times 
of  revolution  are,  however,  more  or  less,  dangerous  times.    *  * 

1  c.  B.,p.  147. 

—54— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Stimulated  by  former  conquests  over  error,  and  the  new  discov- 
eries since  made,  the  human  mind  seems  intent  on  carrying  on 
war  against  false  assumptions  and  unwarranted  conclusions — as 
if  determined  to  advance  from  victory  to  victory  over  every 
species  of  error  and  delusion  *  *  But  there  are  many  things 
already  established.  The  human  mind  is  not  wholly  at  sea 
without  pilot  or  compass.  The  mariner's  compass  has  been 
invented.  And  many  truths  are  immovably  fixed  and  certain 
in  every  well-cultivated  and  intelligent  mind."^ 

There  is,  therefore,  no  reason  for  fear.  One  need  not 
be  disconcerted  or  grow  pessimistic.  Mr.  Campbell  was 
not  afraid  of  the  pain  of  a  new  idea.  On  the  contrary 
he  is  most  optimistic  as  he  goes  on  to  point  out  the 
vast  possibilities  open  for  research, 

"Physical  nature  is,  indeed,  still  open  to  investigation  in 
some  of  her  most  interesting  and  sublime  departments.  Astron- 
omy is  yet  in  process  of  development.  Geology  is  a  new  science, 
still  incomplete  and  imperfect.  The  physical  constitution  of 
man  has  yet  numerous  mysteries  sealed  from  the  most  discrim- 
inating eye."^ 

One  need  not  become  alarmed  in  a  time  of  change  of 
conception  about  material  things  as  long  as  there  is  no 
degradation  of  the  personal,  as  long  as  there  remains 
within  man  a  sure  place — a  world  of  abiding  worth. 
He  goes  on  to  say, 

"There  is  an  empire  in  the  human  heart  over  which  no  man 
or  angel  can  preside,  and  a  throne  in  the  midst  of  it  on  which 
no  Kingdom  can  sit  but  the  King  of  Eternity."^ 

He  says, 

1  Add.,  p.  311,        2  Add.,  312.        3  Add.,  p.  313. 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty', 


"Such  an  age  is  always  an  age  of  extremes;  but  things  will 
regulate  themselves  and  settle  down  on  the  true  foundation! 
'Many  are  running  to  and  fro'  and  certainly  knowledge  is  on 
the  increase."^ 

The  gulf  between  Eastern  Civilization  and  Western 
Civilisation  is  the  difference  between  customary  civili- 
zation and  changeable  civilization.  A  striking  illustra- 
tion of  this  is  the  passing  of  the  savage  from  custom 
to  civilization.  The  government  may  grant  them  in- 
numerable benefits  in  freedom,  prosperity  and  peace,  yet 
it  is  true  that  they  fail  to  understand  the  significance 
of  the  change.  They  recognize  no  superiority  of  the 
new  over  the  customary.  An  Indian  agent  says,  "They 
can  not  make  you  out.  What  puzzles  them  is  yout 
constant  disposition  to  change,  or,  as  you  call  it,  im- 
provement. Their  own  Hfe  in  every  detail  being  regu- 
lated by  ancient  usage,  they  can  not  comprehefnd  a 
policy  which  is  always  bringing  something  new ;  they 
do  not  a  bit  believe  that  the  desire  to  make  them  com- 
fortable and  happy  is  the  root  of  it;  they  believe,  on 
the  contrary,  that  you  are  aiming  at  something  which 
they  do  not  understand — that  you  mean  to  'take  away 
their  religion';  in  a  word,  that  the  end  and  object  of 
all  these  continued  changes  is  to  make  Indians  not  what 
they  are  and  what  they  like  to  be,  but  something  new 
and  different  from  what  they  are  and  what  they  would 
like  to  be."2 

This  feeling  still  clings  to  man  in  various  degrees  as 

1  Ch,  Sys.,  p.  12.         2  Physics  and  Politics,  p.  156. 

—56— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


he  rises  from  step  to  step  in  enlightenment  and  cul- 
ture. 

The  objection  raised  to  IMr.  Campbell's  acceptance  of 
the  new  was, 

"This  has  been  so  long  concealed  from  the  people,  and  so 
lately  brought  to  our  view,  that  we  can  not  acquiesce  in  it." 
(He  answers) 

"This  objection  would  have  made  unavailing  every  attempt 
at  reformation,  or  illumination  of  the  mind,  or  change  in  the 
condition  and  enjoyments  of  society,  ever  attempted.  Besides, 
do  not  the  experiences  of  all  the  religions — the  observations  of 
the  intelligent — the  practical  result  of  all  creeds,  reformations, 
and  improvements — and  the  expectations  and  longings  of  society 
— warrant  the  conclusion  that  either  some  new  revelation,  or 
some  new  development  of  the  revelation  of  God  must  be  made, 
before  the  hopes  and  expectations  of  all  true  Christians  can  be 
realized,  or  Christianity  save  and  reform  the  nations  of  the 
world 

He  deeply  deplores  the  fact  that  men  in  the  light  of 
the  glorious,  auspicious  19th  Century  will  persist  in 
gauging  their  minds  by  the  infallibility  of  the  fathers. 
He  says 

'The  doctrines  of  our  forefathers  have  been  constituted,  in 
practical  life,  the  rules  of  our  faith.  We  must  have  their  ideas, 
their  terms,  their  intellectual  associations;  everj-thing  must  be 
consecrated  by  antiquity,  or  we  are  not  orthodox.  Once  more 
we  ask,  who  would  not  labor  to  redeem  society  from  such  men- 
tal servitude?  Who  can  suppose  that  he  has  too  much  to  sacri- 
fice, to  bring  men  back  to  God,  and  to  induce  them  to  think  for 
themselves,  as  if  they  had  a  mind  and  conscience  of  their  own."* 

1  Ch.  Sys.,  p.  250.         l  C.  B.,  p.  201. 

—57— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


Stereotyped  things  found  no  place  in  his  thought.  As 
he  surveys  the  past  he  finds  the  cause  of  lack  of  prog- 
ress just  in  this  fact  of  fixedness.    He  says, 

"In  physics  or  in  metaphysics,  in  philosophy  or  in  science,  there 
was  no  progress — no  perceptible  or  valuable  progress — for  many 
centuries;  during,  indeed,  the  entire  reign  of  the  Aristotelian 
philosophy  and  the  tyranny  of  the  mere  logical  and  catechetical 
learning.  Answers  printed  or  written,  for  stereotyped  ques- 
tions, propounded  in  seminaries  of  learning— I  care  not  what 
the  subject  or  the  science — never  made  a  thinker,  a  scholar,  a 
philosopher,  or  a  great  man,  much  less  a  saint  or  an  heir  of  im- 
mortality."^ 

This  state  of  fixing  to  the  past  in  v^hich  there  could 
be  no  possible  progress  greatly  affected  men  in  Mr. 
Campbeirs  day.  His  new  and  strange  ideas,  and  his 
large  faith  in  the  progress  of  things  resolved  many  of 
the  conservative  into  lifelong  opponents.  He  says  of 
these  never-learning,  non-progressive  opponents, 

"Our  opponents  can  not,  or  will  not,  understand  how  any 
society  can  be  in  progress  to  a  better  order  of  things  than  that 
under  which  they  may  have  commenced  their  pilgrimage.  [In 
fact  herein  lay  the  real  failure  of  the  Protestant  Reformation.] 
Their  sectarian  policies  were  soon  formed,  and  the  limits  of  their 
reformation  were  soon  fixed;  beyond  which  it  soon  became 
heretical  to  move.  The  founders  of  all  new  schisms  not  only 
saw,  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  their  horizon  was  so  circum- 
scribed with  human  traditions,  that  they  only  aimed  at  moving 
a  few  paces  from  the  hive  in  which  they  were  generated.  A 
new  creed  was  soon  adopted,  and  then  their  stature  was  com- 
plete.    They  bounded  from  infancy  to  manhood  in  a  few  days> 


1  Add.,  p.  308. 


—58— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


and  decided,  if  any  presume  further  to  advance,  they  should  be 
treated  as  those  who  had  refused  to  move  from  the  old  hive. 
Hence  it  became  as  censurable  to  grow  beyond  a  certain  stand- 
ard, as  not  to  grow  at  all."^ 

He  then  goes  on  to  show  how,  in  coming  to  the  word 
of  God  as  our  norm  we  are  not  hopelessly  fixed,  but 
moving  onward. 

"But  in  coming  up  to  this  standard  of  knowledge,  faith  and 
behavior,  we  have  something  yet  before  us,  to  which  we  have 
not  attained."^ 

Thus  Mr.  Campbell's  character  stands  out  in  clear 
outline  upon  the  times.  He  would  not  bury  himself  in 
antiquity.  He  is  essentially  modern  in  his  spirit  and 
love  for  progress. 

Ch.  Sys.,  p.292.  2  ibid. 


—59— 


CHAPTER  m 
The  Limits  of  Knowledge  and  the  Freedom 
to  Think. 


Whatever  creed  be  taught,  or  land  betrod, 
Man's  conscience  is  the  oracle  of  God. — Byron. 

He  who  abandons  the  personal  search  for  truth,  under  what- 
ever pretext,  abandons  truth. — Drummond. 

Accept  the  intellect,  and  it  will  accept  us.  Be  the  lowly 
ministers  of  that  pure  omniscience,  and  deny  it  not  before  men. 
It  will  burn  up  all  profane  literature,  all  base  current  opinions, 
all  the  false  powers  of  the  world,  as  in  a  moment  of  time. — 
Emerson. 

It  is  more  necessary  for  us  to  be  active  than  to  be  ortho- 
dox. To  be  orthodox  is  what  we  wish  to  be,  but  we  can  only 
truly  reach  it  by  being  honest,  by  being  original,  by  seeing  with 
our  own  eyes,  by  believing  with  our  own  heart. — Drummond. 

Born  with  a  love  for  truth  and  liberty, 

And  earnest  for  the  public  right,  he  stands 
Like  solitary  pine  in  wasted  lands, — 

On  some  paladin  of  old  legends,  he 
Would  live  that  other  souls  like  his  be  free, 

Not  caring  for  self  or  pelf  or  pandering  power, 
He  thunders  incessant,  earnest,  hour  by  hour, 

Till  some  old  despot  shackle  cease  to  be. 

—Wilfred  Campbell 


!— 62— 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  LIMITS  OF  KNOWLEDGE  AND  THE 
FREEDOM  TO  THINK. 

There  is  a  naive  conception  abroad  that  insight  has 
no  Hmits,  that  the  great  mind  knows  it  all.  This  is  the 
essence  of  dogma,  bigotry  and  tyranny.  If  one  lives  in 
a  very  small  world  this  may  be  self-evident  as  regards 
all  within  his  narrow  confines.  The  frog  in  the  well 
croaked  loud  and  long  as  no  other  well  he  knew,  and 
this  he  knew  and  knew — through  and  through.  Let  no 
one  suppose  that  Mr.  Campbell,  in  the  full  blaze  of  19th 
Century  light  and  progress,  felt  that  he  had  perfectly 
read  the  world  through.  Within  his  broad,  transcendent 
mind  there  was  a  deep  consciousness  of  limits.  So  with 
all  truly  great  minds !  'Tis  only  the  little,  narrow  minds 
that  pose  as  completeness,  and  brush  upon  life  with  bold, 
assuming  air  of  infallibility.  Max  Miiller  was  feeling 
the  truth  of  this  when  in  his  "Last  Essays"  he  said: 
"The  lesson  that  there  are  limits  to  our  knowledge  is 
an  old  lesson,  but  it  has  to  be  taught  again  and  again. 
It  was  taught  by  Buddha,  it  was  taught  by  Socrates,,  and 
it  was  taught  for  the  last  time  in  most  powerful  manner 
by  Kant.  'Philosophy  has  been  called  the  knowledge  of 
our  knowledge !  it  might  be  called  more  truly  the  knowl- 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


edge  of  our  ignorance,  or,  to  adopt  the  more  moderate 
language  of  Kant,  the  knowledge  of  the  limits  of  our 
knowledge."* 

Mr.  Campbell  possessed  this  knowledge  without  lim- 
its. No  one  better  than  he  recognized  both  the  limits 
and  relativity  of  all  human  knowledge.  The  very  charm 
of  his  life  was  his  humility.  His  most  constant  desire 
was  to  be  a  true  disciple,  a  learner.  In  view  of  man's 
meagerness  of  knowledge,  he  says, 

"If  Socrates,  the  great  master  of  Grecian  philosophy,  could 
boast  that  he  had  attained  so  much  knowledge  of  the  universe 
as  to  be  confident  that  he  knew  nothing  about  it — comprehend 
no  part  of  it,  how  much  of  that  science  of  ignorance  ought  we 
to  possess;  to  whom  so  many  fountains  of  intelligence  have 
been  opened  from  which  the  Sage  of  Athens  was  debarred."* 

One's  consciousness  of  limits  is  commensurate  with 
the  range  of  one's  outlook.  Recognizing  the  vastness, 
complexity,  and  unity  of  the  universe,  he  says, 

"As,  then,  the  systems  of  the  universe,  and  the  sciences  which 
treat  of  them,  run  into  each  other  and  mutually  lend  light,  illus- 
tration, and  development,  it  is  a  mark  of  imbecility  of  mind  rather 
than  of  strength — of  folly  rather  than  of  wisdom — for  any  one  to 
dogmatize  with  an  air  of  infallibility,  or  to  assume  the  attitude 
of  perfect  intelligence  on  any  one  subject  of  human  thought, 
without  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  whole  universe.  But  as 
such  knowledge  is  not  within  the  grasp  of  feeble,  mortal  man, 
whose  horizon  is  a  point  of  creation,  and  whose  days  are  but  a 
moment  of  time,  it  is  superlatively  incongruous  for  any  son  of 
science,  or  of  religion,  to  affirm  that  this  or  that  issue  is  abso- 

I  Ufe  aad  Religion,  p.  99.        2  Add.,  98. 


Alexander  Campbell  mid  Christian  Liberty. 


lutely  irrational,  unjust,  or  unfitting  the  schemes  of  eternal  Provi- 
dence or  the  purposes  of  the  supreme  wisdom  and  benevolence, 
only  as  he  is  guided  by  the  oracles  of  infallible  wisdom  or  the 
inspirations  of  the  Almighty. 

"Who  could  pronounce  upon  the  wisdom  and  utility  of  a  single 
joint,  without  a  knowledge  of  the  limb  to  which  it  belongs;  of 
that  limb,  without  an  understanding  of  the  body  to  which  it 
ministers;  of  that  body  without  a  clear  perception  of  the  world 
in  which  it  moves,  and  of  the  relations  which  it  sustains;  of  that 
world,  without  some  acquaintance  with  the  solar  system  of  which 
it  is  a  small  part;  of  that  particular  solar  system,  without  a 
general  and  even  intimate  knowledge  of  all  the  kindred  systems ; 
of  all  these  kindred  systems  without  a  thorough  comprehension 
of  the  ultimate  design,  without  a  perfect  intelligence  of  that  in- 
comprehensible Being  by  whom  and  for  whom  all  things  were 
created  and  made?  How  gracefully,  then,  sits  unassuming 
modesty  on  all  the  reasonings  of  man!  The  true  philosopher 
and  the  true  Christian,  therefore,  delight  always  to  appear  in 
the  unaffected  custom  of  humility,  candor,  and  docility. 

'He  through  vast  immensity  can  pierce, 
See  worlds  on  worlds  compose  one  universe; 
Observe  how  system  into  system  runs, 
What  planets  circle  other  suns ; 
What  varied  beings  people  every  star, 
May  tell  how  God  has  made  us  as  we  are.' 

A  little  child  came  to  Walt.  Whitman  with  its  arms 
full  of  grass,  asking  the  wise  poet,  ''What  is  this?" 
With  mind  akin  to  Mr.  Campbell's  as  he  reasons  above, 
Mr.  Whitman  asks  in  his  naive  way  —  though  blunt, 
none  the  less  true — ''How  could  I  answer  the  child? 
I  do  not  know  what  it  is,  any  more  than  he?"  Both 


1  Ch.  Sys.,  p.  14. 

(5) 


—65— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Mr.  Campbell  and  Mr.  Whitman  were  only  feeling  that 
sense  of  finiteness  of  which  all  the  truly  great  are  deeply 
conscious  as  they  try  to  think  out  life  and  its  relations 
in  the  presence  of  the  Infinite.  It  is  but  the  experience 
of  a  Newton,  after  a  lifetime  of  thought  and  reflection, 
standing  upon  the  shore  with  only  a  few  small  pebbles 
in  his  hand.  It  is  but  a  Tennyson,  standing  modestly 
before  a  wall  of  stone,  talking  the  inmost  feeling  of  his 
heart  to  the  little  flower: 

"Flower  in  the  crannied  wall, 
I  pluck  you  out  of  the  crannies; 
Hold  you  here  in  my  hand,  root  and  all, 
Little  flower :  but  if  I  could  understand 
What  you  are,  root  and  all,  and  all  in  all, 
I  should  know  what  God  and  Man  is." 

As  Mr.  Campbell  meditates  upon  the  instinct  of  ani- 
mals, which  so  wondrously  and  variously  displays  itself 
in  "kindness,"  ''good  nature,"  and  "affection,"  he  ob- 
serves that  sometimes  they  are  "moved  by  a  divine  influ- 
ence." He  is  unable  to  reason  it  all  out,  but  finds  here 
evidence  of  the  limits  of  man's  knowledge  as  he  con- 
cludes, 

"There  are  many  things  which  are  evident,  yet  altogether 
inexplicable,  *  *  *  Until  we  know  more  of  God  than  can  be 
revealed  or  known  in  this  mortal  state,  we  must  be  content  to 
say  of  a  thousand  things  a  thousand  times,  we  cannot  under- 
stand how,  or  why,  or  wherefore  they  are  so."^ 

Fully  conscious  of  human  limitations,  he  comes  to  his 
general  conviction  about  life  in  these  words, 

1  C.  B.,p.  143. 

—66— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


"At  present,  we  know  ourselves  only  in  part,  and  only  in 
part  can  we  interpret  ourselves  in  our  mysterious  and  Divine 
mechanism."'^ 

Again  he  says, 

"We  may  thank  God  that  we  have  minds  so  large,  so  com- 
prehensive, that  the  earth  and  all  its  attributes,  can  not  fill  them, 
and  thank  Him,  too,  because  there  is  nothing  finite,  which  can 
satisfy  the  infinite ;  yet  as  we  are,  we  can  only  take  a  very  limited 
view  of  objects,  and  our  powers  of  comprehension  and  appre- 
ciation, are  comparatively  impotent."^ 

Such  an  unassuming  position  he  sustained  through 
life.  Many  times  he  was  obliged,  as  a  consequence  of 
this  law  of  development,  to  change  and  correct  his  views. 
He  clearly  states  his  attitude, 

"I  am,  on  all  subjects,  open  to  conviction,  and  even  desirous 
to  receive  larger  measures  of  light;  and  more  than  once,  when 
in  debate,  I  have  been  convicted  of  the  truth  and  force  of  the 
argument  of  an  opponent."^ 

Again  he  says, 

"We  have  been  taught  that  we  are  liable  to  err;  we  candidly 
acknowledge  that  we  have  changed  our  views  on  many  subjects, 
and  that  our  views  have  changed  our  practice.  If  it  be  a 
crime  to  change  our  views  and  our  practice  in  religious  con- 
cerns, we  must  certainly  plead  guilty.  If  it  be  a  humiliating 
thing  to  say  we  have  been  wrong  in  our  belief  and  practice,  we 
must  abase  ourselves  thus  far.  We  were  once  trained  and 
disciplined  in  the  popular  religion,  and  were  then  steady  and 
uniform  in  one  course  for  a  time.  But  the  foundations  of  our 
assent  to  and  accordance  with    the  popular  rehgion  was  de- 

1  Mill.  Har.  1860,  p.  62.         2  Evidences,  p.  105.         3  Evidences,  p.  14. 
—67— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 

stroyed,  and  down  came  the  edifice  about  our  ears.  We  are 
thankful  that  we  were  not  buried  in  the  ruins."^ 

No  one  can  question  but  that  such  an  attitude  is  a 
mark  of  strength  of  mind  and  loyalty  of  will.  Mr. 
Campbell,  like  Emerson,  would  preach  today  what  he 
believed  to  be  truth,  and  if  tomorrow  he  changed  his 
conception  as  to  the  truth  of  things,  he  would  then  let 
go  the  old  and  preach  the  new. 

At  the  commencement  of  his  career  he  took  this  firm 
stand.  On  the  one  hand,  he  was  certain  of  the  limits  of 
human  knowledge,  and  conscious  of  its  relativity;  on 
the  other  hand,  he  believed  in  truth  and  progress.  Hence, 
his  never-ceasing  demand  was,  "Let  there  be  Light"; 
his  challenge  to  the  age,  "What  is  truth?"  Clad  in  this 
armor  he  unflinchingly  met  his  age  and  grappled  with  it. 
He  shunned  darkness.  His  constant  cry  was,  **More 
Light."  He  hated  falsehood  and  sham  with  all  the  bit- 
terness of  a  Carlyle.  Hie  must  have  truth.  Nor  will 
the  findings  of  others  satisfy  him  as  to  the  reality  of 
truth.    He  says, 

"Truth  (not  who  says  so)  is  my  sole  object."^ 
Again, 

"The  great  question  with  every  man's  conscience  is,  or  should 
be,  'What  is  truth?'  Not,  have  any  of  the  scribes  or  rulers  of 
the  people  believed  it?  Every  man's  eternal  all,  as  well  as  his 
present  comfort,  depends  upon  what  answer  he  is  able  to  give 
to  the  question  Pilate  of  old  (John  18:38)  proposed  to  Christ, 
without  waiting  for  a  reply ."^ 
1  C.  B.,  p.  3.         2  C.  B.,  p.  228.         3  Lec.  on  Law,  Hist.  Doc.,  p.  223. 

—68— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Some  in  his  day  believed  that  the  Bible  was  the  only 
fount  of  truth.  To  them  truth  was  truth  because  it  was 
found  in  the  Bible.  They  failed  to  reach  the  fact  that  it 
was  in  the  Bible  because  it  was  true.  He  holding  a  dif- 
ferent criterion  for  truth,  i.  e.,  truth  is  truth  because  of 
its  agreement  with  reality,  looked  everywhere  in  God's 
whole  universe  for  truth.    So  he  says, 

"Truth  is  truth,  wherever  found,  in  the  street  or  in  a  temple- 
in  a  cellar,  or  in  a  mountain."^ 

Speaking  of  the  temper  of  mind  of  himself  and  his 
co-laborers,  he  says  they 

"Set  out  determined  to  sacrifice  ever}thing  to  truth,  and  fol- 
low her  wherever  she  might  lead  the  way."- 

So  intense  is  his  regard  for  truth  that  he  passionately 
cries  out: 

"I  desire  not  victory  but  truth.  The  triumph  of  truth  is  eter- 
nal.  The  triumph  of  error  is  but  for  a  moment.""" 

Neither  was  he  at  all  troubled  over  the  outcome  of 
such  an  attitude  of  free,  individual  investigation.  In  fact, 
in  opposition  to  ignorance  and  superstition,  this  was  the 
only  true  stand  to  take.   He  says : 

"The  only  safe  course,  in  this  perilous  age,  is,  to  take  noth- 
ing upon  trust,  but  to  examine  for  ourselves,  and  *to  bring  all 
things  to  the  test.'  'But  if  any  man  will  be  ignorant,  let  him  be 
ignorant.' 

In  the  ultimate  success  of  truth  he  was  most  optimistic. 

He  says: 

1  Lcct.  on  Pent.,  p.  301.         2  ch.  Sys.,  p.  83.         3  Mill.  Har.  1858,  p.  473" 
4  Hi«t.  Doc.,  p.  222. 
—69— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


"Truth  fairly  presented,  and  enforced  by  the  good  example 
of  its  advocates,  has  ever  triumphed,  and  will  continue  to  triumph 
till  the  victory  is  complete."^ 

So  confidently  does  he  believe  in  the  power  of  truth  to 
win  that  he  growls  eloquent  in  its  consideration.  He  says : 

"While,  in  this  age  of  invention,  the  winds  and  the  waves, 
the  rivers  and  the  deserts,  the  mountains  and  the  valleys  are 
made  to  yield  to  scientific  and  mechanical  skill ;  while  the  human 
mind  is  bursting  through  the  shackles  and  restraints  of  a  false  phi- 
losophy, and  developing  the  marvelous  extent  of  its  powers,  it 
is  not  to  be  supposed  strange  and  unaccountable  that  the  moral 
and  religious  systems  of  antiquity  should  be  submitted  to  the 
scrutiny  of  enlightened  intellects,  and  that  men  of  reflection  and 
independence  would  dare  to  explore  the  creeds  and  the  rubrics 
of  ages  of  less  light  and  more  superstition.     Truth  has  nothing 
to  fear  from  investigation.     It  dreads  not  the  light  of  science, 
nor  shuns  the  scrutiny  of  the  most  prying  inquiry.     Like  one 
conscious  of  spotless  innocence  and  uncontaminated  purity,  it 
challenges  the  fullest,  the  ablest,  and  the  boldest  examination. 
On  the  other  hand,  error,  as  if  aware  of  its  flimsy  pretensions 
and  of  the  veil  which  conceals  its  deformity,  flies  from  the  torch 
of  reason,  and  dares  not  approach  the  tribunal  of  impartial  in- 
quiry.   She  hides  herself  in  the  fastnesses  of  remote  antiquity, 
and  garrisons  herself  in  the  fortifications  erected  by  those  she 
honors  with  the  title  of  'the  Fathers.'     When  she  dares  to  visit 
the  temples  of  human  resort,  she  attires  herself  in  the  attractions 
of  popular  applause,  and  piques  herself  upon  the  number,  in- 
fluence, and  respectability  of  her  admirers.     But  with  all  her 
blandishments,  she  is  an  impudent  imposter,  and  is  doomed  to 
destruction  with  all  her  worshippers.      But  Truth,  immortal 
Truth!  the  first  born  of  Heaven!  by  the  indisputable  rights  of 
primogeniture,  shall  inherit  all  things,  and  leave  her  antagonist, 

IC.  B.,p.  22S. 

--70— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


Error,  to  languish  forever  in  the  everlasting  shame  and  contempt 
of  perfect  and  universal  exposure.  To  Truth  eternal  and  immor- 
tal, the  wise  and  good  will  pay  all  homage  and  respect.  Upon 
no  altar  will  they  offer  her  as  a  victim;  but  at  her  shrine  will 
sacrifice  everything."^ 

In  his  day  many  were  tr}'ing  to  stay  the  rising  tide  of 
19th  Century  thought  and  investigation.  They  sought  to 
keep  men  within  the  old  channels  of  thought  and  custom. 
They  feared  the  outcome  of  growing  unse.  As  to  this 
tendency  he  says : 

"But  to  set  the  mind  abroach,  to  take  off  every  restraint  but 
that  of  moral  law,  to  encourage  free  inquiry,  especially  in  an 
age  of  comparative  ignorance  and  superstition  both  in  things 
political,  religious  and  literary,  is  always  a  hazardous  experiment. 
In  such  a  revolution  as  must  necessarily  ensue,  not  only  the  in- 
stitutions of  false  philosophy,  unequal  policy  and  arbitrary  legis- 
lation, but  also  the  altars,  the  temples,  and  the  ordinances  of 
reason  and  truth  and  justice,  may  be  blended  together  in  one 
promiscuous  ruin.  Who  can  arrest  the  progress  of  free  in- 
quir>'?  What  human  spirit  can  ride  upon  this  whirlwind  and 
direct  this  storm?  What  philosopher  or  sage  can,  with  effect, 
say,  'Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  and  no  farther;  and  here  shall 
your  investigation  cease'?  Experience  says  it  is  much  easier 
to  communicate  the  spark  than  to  arrest  the  flame.  Still,  how- 
ever, we  have  this  consolation  that  truth  is  in  its  own  nature  in- 
destructible, and  that  however  for  a  time  it  may  be  hid  among 
the  rubbish  of  human  tradition,  or  buried  in  the  wreck  of  revo- 
lutions and  counter-revolutions  in  human  affairs,  it  will  ulti- 
mately gain  the  ascendant  and  command  not  only  the  admiration 
but  the  homage  of  all  mankind.  *  *  *  Happy  is  it,  then, 
for  the  general  interests  of  all  science  and  of  all  society,  that 

1  C.  B.,  461. 

—71— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


when  men  begin  to  think  and  reason  and  decide  for  themselves 
on  any  one  subject,  unrestrained  by  the  proscriptions  and  unawed 
by  the  authority  of  past  ages,  it  is  not  within  their  own  power, 
nor  within  the  grasp  of  any  extrinsic  authority  on  earth,  to  re- 
strain their  speculations,  or  to  confine  them  to  that  one  subject, 
whatever  it  may  be,  which  happened  first  to  arouse  their  minds 
from  repose  of  unthinking  acquiescence  and  to  break  the  spell  of 
implicit  resignation  to  the  supposed  superior  wisdom  of  the  re- 
puted sages  of  ancient  times."^ 

His  contentions  are  not  unlike  those  of  Kant:  "Our 
age  is,  in  every  sense  of  the  v^ord,  the  age  of  criticism, 
and  everything  must  submit  to  it.  Religion  on  the  strength 
of  its  sanctity,  and  law,  on  the  strength  of  its  majesty, 
try  to  withdraw  themselves  from  it ;  but  by  so  doing  they 
arouse  just  suspicions,  and  cannot  claim  that  sincere  re- 
spect which  reason  pays  to  those  only  who  have  been  able 
to  stand  its  free,  open  examination." 

Thus,  in  a  day  of  deep-seated  conservatism,  in  the 
midst  of  a  strong  tendency  to  stationariness  to  the  degree 
of  fossilization,  Alexander  Campbell  turned  his  back  upon 
the  -findings  of  the  past  and  lined  up  alongside  of  liberty 
and  progress.  The  American  atmosphere  was  most  con- 
genial to  him.  He  found  himself  in  unison  with  the 
American  ideals  of  liberty.  Possessing  the  true  Ameri- 
can spirit,  he  became  in  the  ecclesiastical  world  an  urgent 
spokesman  and  defender  of  the  rights  of  men  to  think 
for  themselves. 

He  felt  that  he  stood  upon  a  broad  and  solid  founda- 
tion in  his  right  to  think,  investigate,  arrive  at  his  own 

1  Add.,  p.  454. 

—12i— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


conclusions,  and  dissent  from  the  past,  if  need  be.  In 
the  first  place,  this  right  belonged  to  him  as  an  American 
citizen.   He  says : 

"Freedom  of  thought,  of  speech,  and  of  action  on  all  sub- 
jects— connected  with  religion — morality  and  politics  are  the  con- 
stitutional rights  and  privileges  of  every  citizen  of  these  United 
States.  We  thank  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow,  for  these 
invaluable  American  birthrights,  privileges,  and  honors."^ 

"There  is  nothing  more  congenial  to  civil  liberty  than  to  en- 
joy an  unrestrained,  unembargoed  liberty  of  exercising  the  con- 
science fully  upon  all  subjects  respecting  religion."^ 

In  the  second  place,  he  bases  his  liberality  in  the  pro- 
gram of  the  Master  of  all  true  freedom.  He  does  not 
forget  the  words  of  Jesus:  "If  ye  abide  in  my  word, 
then  are  ye  truly  my  disciples ;  and  ye  shall  know  the 
truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free.  *  *  *  if^ 
therefore,  the  Son  shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free 
indeed."  He  listens  to  the  word  of  'Paul :  ''With  free- 
dom did  Christ  set  us  free.  Stand  fast,  therefore,  and 
be  not  entagled  again  in  a  yoke  of  bondage."  Speaking 
of  Jesus,  he  says : 

"He  establishes  the  doctrine  of  personal  liberty,  of  freedom 
of  choice,  and  of  personal  responsibility,  by  commanding  every 
man  to  judge,  reason,  and  act  for  himself."^ 

In  the  Christocracy  he  finds  "essentially  the  spirit  of 
liberty,  justice  and  love,"  since  Christ  has  absolute  con- 
trol of  the  affections  of  the  human  heart.  So  he  is  able 
to  conclude  that 

1  Mill.  Har.  1860,  p.  394.         2  Bapt.,  p.  409.         3  Bapt.,  p.  109. 

—73— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


"In  the  Christocracy,  therefore,  we  find  the  never-failing  spring 
of  that  aversion  to  ecclesiastical  dogmatism  which  has  given  to 
pure  Protestantism  its  noble  characteristics  of  mental  independ- 
ence, sense  of  equal  rights,  and  love  of  perfect  freedom.  If 
the  Son  of  God  emancipate  a  man,  he  is  free  indeed."^ 

Finally,  he  finds  his  right  for  personal  freedom  bound 
up  in  the  proscriptions  of  the  Christian  Church,  which  in 
its  doctrine  recognizes  the  fact  of  man's  relation  to  God; 
that  man  is  God's  child  and  is  by  nature  accountable  to 
his  Father.  Therefore  he  is  able  to  conclude  as  regards 
the  true  church  that, 

"The  Christian  church  is  the  only  perfect  cradle  of  human 
liberty,  as  it  is  the  only  proper  school  of  equal  rights  and  im- 
munities on  earth.  It  commands  every  man  to  think,  speak, 
and  act  for  himself.  *  *  *  f  j^g  great  doctrine  of  a  personal 
accountability  is  made  the  foundation  of  personal  liberty.  It 
teaches  that  every  man  shall  give  an  account  of  himself  to  God. 
And  as  there  shall  be  no  proxies  in  the  future  and  eternal  judg- 
ment, so  there  must  be  none  in  Christ's  Kingdom  on  earth.  From 
these  sublime  facts  spring  all  rational  liberty  of  thought  and  ac- 
tion on  the  greatest  choice  which  man  can  make;  whom  he  shall 
acknowledge,  love,  and  serve  God,  and  in  what  way  and  manner 
he  shall  best  serve  him.  *  *  *  No  religion  preached  on  earth 
is  so  favorable  to  human  liberty  as  the  Christian.  Indeed,  it 
prescribes  the  only  rational  foundation  of  liberty  ever  submitted 
to  the  human  understanding.  This  it  does  by  making  every 
man's  destiny  forever  depend  upon  his  own  choice.  If  he  must 
be  judged  for  himself,  he  must  think  and  choose  for  himself— 
is  as  sound  logic,  as  sound  theology,  as  was  ever  preached."^ 

Mr.  Campbell,  in  his  demand  for  a  right  to  free  inves- 
tigation, was  feeling  what  Harold  Hoffding  felt  when  he 

1  Add.,  p.  498.         2  Bapt.  p.  nOf. 

—74— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


said "To  make  religion  a  problem  may  be  offensive  to 
many.  But  thought,  when  it  is  once  awakened,  must  have 
the  right  to  investigate  everything,  and  only  thought  itself 
can  draw  the  bounds  to  thought.  Who  else  should  do 
this?  He  who  has  espied  no  problem  has  naturally  no 
reason  to  think;  but  such  a  one  has  no  reason  to  keep 
others  from  thinking.  Whoever  fears  the  loss  of  his 
spiritual  house  of  refuge,  let  him  keep  away.  No  one 
wishes  to  rob  a  poor  man  of  his  only  lamb — then  the  poor 
man  may  not  needlessly  drive  it  along  the  crowded  thor- 
oughfare, and  demand  that  traffic  shall  stop  on  his  ac- 
count. Moreover,  experience  shows  that  it  is  the  rams 
rather  than  the  lambs  which  loudly  proclaim,  in  season, 
and  especially  out  of  season,  that  they  are  offended  and 
scandalized.  It  is  not  so  much  the  really  spiritually  poor 
as  it  is  the  obstinate  and  blustering  ecclesiasts  who  raise 
such  a  clamor  when  free  inquiry  enters  upon  its  rights 
to  bestir  itself  in  the  religions,  as  in  every  other  region." 

1  The  Fidelity  of  the  Christian  Religion  (Foster),  p.  IS. 


—75— 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Appreciation  of  Great  Personalities. 


Beyond  all  wealth,  honor  or  even  health,  is  the  attachment 
we  form  to  noble  souls,  because  to  become  one  with  the  good, 
generous  and  true,  is  to  become,  in  a  measure,  good,  generous 
and  true  ourselves. — Thomas  Arnold. 

They  never  know  who  only  know  alone. 
Who  deeply  knows  must  also  deeply  feel. 

—Wilfred  Campbell. 

Each  man  gets  out  of  the  world  of  men  the  rebound,  the  in- 
crease and  the  development  of  what  he  brings  there. — Phillips 
Brooks. 

Whence  come  our  greatest  convictions,  our  deepest  faiths? 
From  personal  associations.  Personal  contact  and  impression 
of  character  count  more  here  than  all  arguments.  You  find 
yourself  responding  like  a  vibrating  chord  to  the  note  of  your 
friend.  His  faith  and  life  become  the  firmest  ground  for  yours. 
You  catch  his  conviction,  his  spirit.  It  may  well  be  a  relief  to 
a  conscientious  but  growing  teacher,  that  it  is  not  a  man's  indi- 
vidual propositions,  so  much  as  the  general  trend  of  his  thinking, 
his  spirit,  his  tone,  his  atmosphere,  which  remains  with  others. 
This  total  result  now  becomes  in  them,  too,  a  living  germ,  going 
on  to  grow  in  them  as  in  him.  It  is  not  propositions,  not  defini- 
tions, not  demonstrations,  that  give  inspiration,  but  the  touch  of 
life. — Henry  Churchill  King,  Rational  Living,  p.  250. 


-78- 


CHAPTER  IV. 


APPRECIATION  OF  GREAT  PERSONALITIES. 

It  would  be  doing  Mr.  Campbell  a  great  injustice  to 
say  that  he  made  an  entire  break  with  the  past.  In  the 
incoming  of  the  new  many  have  committed  the  error  of 
so  utterly  breaking  with  the  past  as  to  have  no  secure 
foundation  for  the  new.  Such  an  extreme  found  them 
finally  out  on  the  rolling  waves  without  chart  or  compass. 
Mr.  Campbell  did  not  commit  himself  to  any  such  ex- 
treme. On  the  contrary,  his  fine  culture  of  both  mind  and 
heart  granted  him  an  appreciation  of  the  great  person- 
alities of  history.  He  never  despised  the  heritage  of  the 
past,  nor  did  he  feel,  with  all  his  love  for  progress,  that 
there  were  no  constant  elements  coming  down  out  of  the 
past.  He  rather  sought  to  know  the  true  significance  of 
these  constants  which  had  come  through  the  great  per- 
sonalities of  history.  That  which  was  so  abhorrent  to 
him  was  the  abuse  and  misuse  of  the  past  which  rendered 
men  incapable  of  thinking  for  themselves.  He  would 
have  men  everywhere  and  always  stand  out,  upon  their 
own  individuality,  and  in  their  own  times,  instead  of 
being  appendages  to  others  and  to  other  ages.  Freeing 
himself  from  that  narrowness  which  so  often  affects 
small  minds,  that  littleness  which  can  see  nothing  good 
and  true  in  those  who  differ  from  them,  he  entered  into 

—79— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


sympathetic  appreciation  of  the  great  thinkers,  of  not 
only  his  own  time,  but  all  ages. 

But,  with  him,  the  significance  of  these  men  was  not 
in  their  being  masters  whom  he  should  slavishly  follow, 
but  rather  in  their  being  personalities  whose  touch  would 
enable  him  to  do  his  own  thinking  and  acting;  and  all 
the  better  could  he  do  this  since  their  genius  had  lifted 
him  to  the  heights. 

Few  theologians  of  Mr.  Campbell's  day  would  have 
given  such  a  liberal  thinker  as  Mr.  Coleridge  such  warm 
w^ords  of  praise  as  he  did  when  he  said : 

"Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge  was  not  merely  a  poet  and  a  phil- 
osopher of  the  highest  order,  but,  by  concession,  the  most  talented 
theologian  in  the  English  Church,  of  his  day.  Some  of  the  Lon- 
don reviews  have  pronounced  him  the  greatest  theologian  in  the 
world,  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  century.  That  he  was  a 
man  of  the  most  philosophic  and  discriminating  mind,  as  well  as 
of  prodigious  theological  attainments,  no  one  who  has  read  his 
various  works,  and  especially  his  'Aid  to  Reflection,'  can  reason- 
ably doubt."^ 

In  speaking  of  a  saying  of  Luther's,  he  says : 

"We  agree  with  him  in  this  as  well  as  in  many  other  sentiments. 
Emerging  from  the  smoke  of  the  great  city  of  mystical  Babylon, 
he  saw  as  clearly  and  as  far  into  these  matters  as  any  other  per- 
son could  in  such  a  hazy  atmosphere.  Many  of  his  views  only 
require  to  be  carried  out  to  their  legitimate  issue,  and,  we  should 
have  the  ancient  gospel  restored."* 

Of  the  reformers  in  general  he  says : 

1  Ch.  Sys.,  p.  437.   2  Ch.  Sys.,  p.  191. 

—80— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


"Time,  that  great  arbiter  of  human  actions,  that  great  revealer 
of  secrets,  has  long  decided  that  all  the  reformers  of  the  Papacy 
have  been  public  benefactors.  And  thus  the  Potestant  Reforma- 
tion is  proved  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  splendid  eras  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  and  must  long  be  regarded  by  the  philoso- 
pher and  the  philanthropist  as  one  of  the  most  gracious  interpo- 
sitions in  behalf  of  the  whole  human  race.  *  *  We  Americans 
owe  our  national  privileges  and  our  civil  liberties  to  the  Protestant 
Reformation.  They  achieved  not  only  an  imperishable  fame  for 
themselves,  but  a  rich  legacy  for  their  posterity.  When  we  con- 
trast the  present  state  of  these  United  States  with  Spanish 
America  and  the  condition  of  the  English  nation  with  that  of 
Spain,  Portugal  and  Italy,  we  begin  to  appreciate  how  much  we 
are  indebted  to  the  intelligence,  faith  and  courage  of  Martin  Lu- 
ther, and  his  heroic  associates  in  that  glorious  reformation.  *  * 
Reformation,  however,  became  the  order  of  the  day;  and  this 
assuredly,  was  a  great  matter,  however  it  may  have  been  man- 
aged. It  was  a  revolution,  and  revolutions  seldom  move  back- 
ward. The  example  that  Luther  set  was  of  more  value  than  all 
the  achievements  of  Charles  V.,  or  the  literary  and  moral  labors 
of  his  distinguished  contemporary,  the  erudite  Erasmus."^ 

In  a  consideration  of  Bacon,  Locke,  Newton,  Milton, 
Young,  Shakespeare,  Wilberforce,  and  others  who  have 
graced  the  world  with  word  and  deed,  he  declares: 

"These  great  revealers  and  masters  of  nature  have  been  found 
in  hosts  among  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  and  almost  exclusively 
among  them.  These  are  the  great  benefactors  of  man — the  great 
reformers  of  the  world.  They  have  transformed  the  rugged  hills 
and  mountains  into  Sharon  and  Carmel ;  they  have  made  'the 
wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  glad,'  and  have  compelled  the 
desert  to  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose.' 


1  Ch.  Sys.,  p.  3,  4. 

(6) 


2  Add.,  p.  41, 

— 8i— 


^Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


In  his  estimate  of  the  world's  great  benefactors,  he 
finds : 

"Two  illustrious  categories — the  great  in  reason,  and  the  great 
in  fancy.  Conception  and  comparison  distinguish  the  former — im- 
agination and  invention  the  latter.  These  are  the  men  of  genius 
— these  the  men  of  talent.  Men  of  genius  soar  on  eagles'  pin- 
ions to  worlds  of  fancy;  while  men  of  talent,  Atlas-like,  stand 
under  the  real  world.  The  loftier  regions  of  fiction  and  romance 
delight  the  former,  while  the  realties  of  earth  and  its  mighty 
destinies  engross  the  attention  and  command  the  energies  of  the 
latter.  Men  of  genius  create  new  worlds — men  of  talent  carry 
them.  Strength  (for  so  talentum,  from  talao,  would  seem  to 
indicate)  characterizes  the  one;  while  activity  and  celerity  of 
movement  distinguish  the  operations  of  the  other.  While,  then, 
invention  is  the  boast  of  genius,  execution  is  the  glory  of  talent. 
Combined,  they  make  the  earth's  great  ones;  and,  leagued  with 
virtue,  constitute  the  real  nobility  of  human  nature. 

"Example,  however,  is  always  more  intelligible,  and  generally 
more  eloquent  than  definition.  We  shall  then  summon  its  aid. 
Genius,  we  have  said,  is  distinguished  by  invention,  creation, 
origination ;  talent  by  effort,  enterprise  and  great  achievements. 
Energy  is  prime  minister  to  talent;  the  love  of  admiration,  to 
genius. 

"Homer  excelled  in  genius;  Virgil  in  talent;  Shakespeare  and 
Milton  in  both.  In  the  fine  arts  of  painting,  sculpture  and  music, 
as  well  as  in  poetry,  oratory,  and  even  in  the  useful  arts,  that  hav^ 
contributed  to  the  progress  of  civilization  and  comfort,  we  have 
numerous  and  happy  illustrations  of  both  genius  and  talent. 
Raphael  in  his  cartoons,  Michael  Angelo  in  his  frescos,  and  our 
own  Benjamin  West  in  his  historical  paintings,  are  par  excel- 
lence, models  of  genius  in  the  department  of  painting.  In  sculp- 
ture, Phidias,  Praxiteles,  and  Polydore  are  as  bright  as  constella- 
tion of  genius  as  Demosthenes,  Cicero  or  Sheridan,  in  oratory; 

-82- 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


or  as  Milton,  Pope  or  Byron,  in  poetry.  In  the  useful  arts  a  Ful- 
ton and  an  Arkwright  afford  as  fine  specimens  of  genius  as  a 
Mozart  in  music,  or  a  Scott  in  romance.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
discover  in  a  Butler,  a  Luther,  a  Franklin,  a  Washington,  the 
mighty  power  of  talent;  and  in  a  Locke,  a  Bacon,  or  a  Newton, 
the  still  superior  force  of  genius  and  talent  combined."^ 

After  considering  earth's  great  men  of  genius  and  tal- 
ent he  speaks  of  their  extensive  influence  in  these  words: 

"Eternit}'  alone  will  develop  the  wide-spreading  and  long-con- 
tinued series  of  good  and  happy  consequences,  direct  and  indirect, 
resulting  from  their  schemes  of  benevolence  and  deeds  of  mercy. 
Their  noble  influence  may  be  compared  in  its  beginnings  to 
the  salient  fountains  of  some  of  earth's  grandest  rivers,  which, 
though  not  ankle-deep,  issuing  from  beneath  a  little  rock  on  some 
lofty  mountain's  brow,  after  wending  its  serpentine  way  for  thou- 
sands of  miles  through  many  a  rich  valley  and  fertile  plain,  and 
receiving  the  contributions  of  numerous  tributary'  streams,  finally 
disembogues  its  deep,  broad  flood  into  the  ocean,  carrj'ing  on  its 
majestic  bosom  the  products  of  many  climes  and  the  wealth  of 
many  nations.  So  in  the  course  of  the  ages,  the  labors  of  the 
more  distinguished  benefactors  of  mankind,  at  first  humble  and 
circumscribed,  yield  largely  accumulating  revenues  of  glor>'  and 
felicity;  and  carry  down,  not  only  to  the  remotest  times,  and  to 
the  most  distant  nations,  manifold  blessings;  but  occasionally, 
transcending  the  boundaries  of  earth  and  time,  they  flow  into 
eternity  itself,  carrying  home  to  God  and  the  universe,  untold 
multitudes  of  pure  and  happy  beings."* 

So  appreciative  is  he  of  the  world's  noble  souls  that 
he  ix'ould  bow  in  reverence  in  remembrance  of  them-.  He 
says : 

lAdd.,p.  T8.        «  Add.. p.  89. 

—83-- 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


"Could  the  sons  of  science,  of  poetry  and  philosophy  find  the 
grave  of  Homer,  of  Socrates,  of  Plato  or  Archimedes,  or  stand 
at  the  tomb  of  Bacon,  of  Locke,  of  Newton,  of  Shakespeare  or 
of  Milton — those  'plenipotentiaries  of  intellect  and  giants  of  the 
soul' — what  awe  and  reverence  for  intellectual  greatness  would 
possess  their  minds  in  the  remembrance  of  the  mighty  triumphs 
and  splendid  trophies  of  their  illustrious  and  wonderful  genius."^ 

That  God  had  made  the  world,  set  it  going,  and  then 
transcended  it,  dwelling  in  some  remote  region,  was  for- 
eign to  Mr.  Campbell's  idea  of  God.  The  fault  he  finds 
with  the  Theists  and  Deists  is  that 

"They  humanize  their  God  too  much;  give  him  too  much  the 
character  of  a  governor,  and  too  many  of  the  attributes  which  are 
supposed  essential  to  a  good  governor;  whereas  the  pure  Deists 
make  their  God  rather  an  indifferent  spectator,  an  uninterested 
observer  of  the  affairs  of  this  life." 

He  sees  God  constantly  working  in  history.  Some  have 
felt  that  God's  working  in  the  world  was  a  thing  of  the 
past.  They  have  drawn  a  sharp  line  between  what  is  in 
the  Bible  and  what  is  outside.  After  the  old  Jewish  fash- 
ion, they  have  called  the  one  sacred,  and  the  other  secu- 
lar. Not  only  the  great  characters  of  the  Bible,  but  the 
great  characters  of  history  were  seen,  by  Mr.  Campbell, 
to  be  God's  instruments  in  molding  and  perfecting  the 
world.  Nor  are  they  confined  to  the  merely  religious,  but 
in  all  the  various  activities  of  life  men  are  divine  instru- 
ments of  God's  hand,  prepared  by  him  to  further  his  pur- 
pose and  bring  it  to  its  great  consummation.  Relative 
to  this  he  says: 

1  Add.,  p.  281.  2  Evidences,  p.  64. 

—84— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


"It  is  generally  conceded  that  we  have  another  illustration  of 
this  feature  of  the  divine  government,  in  the  mission  of  that  illus- 
trious champion  of  liberty — George  Washington.  He  was  raised 
up  as  was  Moses,  though  he  did  not  have  assigned  to  him  the 
destiny  of  a  people  so  great  in  their  relation  to  God  and  to  the 
universe.  Still  the  influence  of  his  achievements  has  been  felt 
throughout  the  realms  of  civilization,  and  the  ultimate  end  of 
his  mission  no  one  knows.  The  great  problems  in  human  gov- 
ernment growing  out  of  his  career,  are  not  yet  solved — not  yet 
developed."^ 

In  like  manner  he  speaks  of  the  Puritans : 

'The  Mayflower  ferried  over  the  Atlantic  the  seeds  gathered 
from  the  early  harvests,  the  choicest  first  fruits  of  European 
Protestantism.  Brought  directly  from  Old  England,  they  were 
planted  in  New  England.  The  soil  and  climate,  however  rugged 
for  the  germs  of  earth,  were  most  fertile  and  happy  for  the  new 
souls,  and,  consequently,  rich  harvests  rewarded  the  labors  of 
the  puritanic  husbandmen.  God  sent  them  to  a  new  world,  that 
they  might  institute,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  new 
political  and  ecclesiastic  institutions.  Such,  most  assuredly,  was 
their  divine  mission."^ 

Although  Mr.  Campbell  sacredly  regarded  the  great 
personalities  of  history  as  God's  noblemen,  and  reserved 
a  large  place  in  his  heart  for  them,  he  did  not  allow  him- 
self to  become  their  slave,  in  thinking  their  thoughts. 
He  tells  us  how  much  and  in  what  way  he  is  indebted 
to  various  thinkers.   He  says : 

"I  was,  some  fourteen  years  ago,  a  great  admirer  of  the  works 
of  John  Newton.  I  read  them  with  great  delight,  and  I  still 
love  the  author  and  admire  many  of  his  sentiments.    He  was 

1  I^ect.  on  pent.,  p.  176.        2  Add.,  p.  169. 

-55- 


'Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


not  a  staunch  Episcopalian,  though  he  died  in  that  connection. 
In  an  apology  to  a  friend  for  his  departure  from  the  tenets  of 
that  sect  in  some  instances,  he  said,  'Whensoever  he  found  a 
pretty  feather  in  any  bird,  he  endeavored  to  attach  it  to  his  own 
plumage,  and,  although  he  had  become  a  very  speckled  bird,  so 
much  so  that  no  one  of  any  one  species  would  altogether  own  him 
as  belonging  to  them,  he  flattered  himself  that  he  was  the  pret- 
tiest bird  among  them.'  From  that  time  to  this  I  have  been 
looking  for  pretty  feathers,  and  I  have  become  more  speckled 
than  Newton  of  Olney;  but  whether  I  have  as  good  taste  in  the 
selection,  must  be  decided  by  connoisseurs  in  ornithology.  *  *  * 
"While  I  acknowledge  myself  a  debtor  to  Glass,  Sandeman, 
Harvey,  Cudworth,  Fuller  and  McLean;  as  much  as  to  Luther, 
Calvin  and  John  Wesley,  I  candidly  and  unequivocally  avow  that 
I  do  not  believe  that  any  one  of  them  had  clear  and  consistent 
views  of  the  Christian  religion  as  a  whole.  Some  of  them,  no 
doubt,  had  clear  and  correct  views  of  some  of  its  truths,  nay,  of 
many  of  them,  but  they  were  impeded  in  their  inquiries  by  a  false 
philosophy  and  metaphysics,  which  fettered  their  own  under- 
standing in  some  of  the  plainest  things  *  *  *  While  I  thus 
acknowledge  myself  a  debtor  to  those  persons,  I  must  say  that 
the  debt  in  most  instances  is  a  very  small  one.  I  am  indebted, 
upon  the  whole,  as  much  to  their  errors  as  to  their  virtues,  for 
these  have  been  to  me  as  beacons  to  the  mariner,  who  might 
otherwise  have  run  upon  the  rocks  and  shoals,  *  *  *  though 
in  some  instances,  I  have  been  edified  and  instructed  by  their 
labors."^ 

He  further  states  that  for  tke  past  ten  years  he  had  not 

looked  into  their  books,  but  had  confined  himself  to  the 
Bible,  which  had  become  to  him  "a  book  entirely  new." 
Nor  had  he  imbibed  the  ideas  of  his  father,  whom  he  con- 
sidered wise  and  capable.    On  the  contrary,  he  had  de- 

r  C.  B.,  p.  229. 

—86— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


bated  and  reasoned  more  with  him  than  with  any  other 
man.    He  then  states  his  unique  position  in  these  words : 

"I  call  no  man  ftiaster  upon  the  earth.  *  *  *  I  have  been 
so  long  disciplined  in  the  school  of  free  inquiry  that,  if  I  know  my 
own  mind,  there  is  not  a  man  upon  the  earth  whose  authority 
can  influence  me,  any  farther  than  he  comes  with  the  authority 
of  evidence,  reason  and  truth.  To  arrive  at  this  state  of  mind 
is  the  result  of  many  experiments  and  efforts;  and  to  me  has 
been  arduous  beyond  expression.  I  have  endeavored  to  read  the 
Scriptures  as  though  no  one  had  read  them  before  me ;  and  I  am 
as  much  on  my  guard  against  reading  them  today,  through  the 
medium  of  my  own  views  yesterday,  or  a  week  ago,  as  I  an; 
against  being  influenced  by  any  foreign  name,  authority,  or  sys- 
tem, whatever.'*^ 

In  this,  three  dominant  characteristics  of  Mr,  Camp- 
bell's  type  of  mind  are  evident.  First,  that  authority,  and 
that  only,  which  is  able  to  submit  itself  to  his  own  per- 
sonal investigation,  has  right  of  way  with  him.  Secondly, 
this  position  cost  him  great  mental  struggle.  Thirdly,  he 
recognizes  the  progressive  nature  of  revelation.  Although 
the  revelation  of  God  may  be  fixed  in  type  and  ink,  the 
mind  which  comes  to  it,  growing  from  day  to  day,  is  pro- 
gressive and  must  understand  it  from  the  mind's  ad- 
vanced and  perfect  state,  rather  than  from  some  unma- 
tured state  which  it  has  left  behind  in  its  development. 
For  a  complete  revelation  of  God,  there  must  be  not  only 
the  record  of  how  God  gradually  unfolded  himself  in  the 
prophets  to  the  fathers,  culminating  in  the  fullness  of  his 
true  character  in  his  Son,  but  there  must  be  the  growing, 

1  C.B.,p.229. 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


personal  mind  of  man,  to  lay  hold  of  this  sublime  revela- 
tion of  God,  understand  it,  appreciate  it,  respond  to  it, 
and  enforce  it  in  life. 

We  have  been  considering  the  man  who  came  to  Amer- 
ica at  the  beginning  of  the  19th  Century.  We  have  heard 
his  voice.  We  have  felt  the  touch  of  his  spirit.  His  ideas 
of  liberty  and  progress  are  before  us.  Do  v^e  estimate 
him  to  be  a  man  needed  by  the  times?  Should  the  19th 
Century  have  made  room  for  him  and  given  him  a  can- 
did hearing?  Judging  from  the  reception  he  met  as  he 
commenced  his  life's  task,  we  would  answer  in  the  nega- 
tive. But  later  times  often  reverse  the  verdict  of  former 
times.  The  centuries  often  correct  the  judgment  of  the 
hours.  Did  a  man  of  his  spirit  and  attitude  as  he  faced 
the  world  fit  into  the  times?  He  possessed  in  a  large 
degree  a  love  for  freedom  and  a  spirit  of  liberty  which 
was  intense.  His  faith  in  progress  and  his  admiration 
for  truth  towered  into  a  splendid  optimism.  His  exten- 
sive view  of  things  made  him  ever  conscious  of  human 
limits  and  instead  of  becoming  a  bigot  he  grew  modestly 
humble.  In  his  love  for  the  great  personalities  of  his- 
tory he  never  lost  his  balance  so  as  to  destroy  his  own 
individuality  or  to  become  a  leaner  upon  others.  Did  the 
19th  Century  require  such  a  man?  We  may  be  able  to 
pass  a  wiser  judgment  after  a  consideration  of  the  times, 
after  we  learn  how  he  adjusted  himself  to  the  problem  of 
his  day.  It  may  be  that  General  Robert  E.  Lee  spoke  a 
noble  truth  when  he  said:  'If  I  were  asked  to  select 
a  representative  of  the  human  race  to  the  inhabitants  of 

—88— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


the  other  spheres  in  our  universe,  of  all  the  men  I  have 
ever  known  I  would  select  Alexander  Campbell;  then  I 
know  they  would  have  a  high  impression  of  what  our 
humanity  is  like."^ 

1  Cen.  Camp  Fire,  p.  SO. 


CHAPTER  V. 
A  New  Voice  in  Protestantism. 


But  while  we  thus  ape  our  fathers,  we  forget  that  their  great- 
ness consisted  in  the  fact  that  they  aped  no  one. — Mazzini. 

The  old  emphasis  of  man-made  statements  and  creeds  is  gone. 
John  Huss  and  John  Calvin,  John  Wesley  and  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards, those  sons  of  thunder,  like  the  first  John  in  his  first  es- 
tate, have  been  relegated  to  their  place  as  great  men,  but  have 
ceased  to  eclipse  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  All  these  have  be- 
come mere  candles  while  the  teacher  of  Bethlehem  and  Calvary 
stands  forth,  the  one  untroubled  sun. — (The  Fortune  of  the  Re- 
public)—Hillis,  1906. 

And  as  thus  age  after  age  they  wrangle,  with  their  eyes  turned 
away  from  the  light,  the  world  goes  on  to  larger  and  larger 
knowledge  in  spite  of  them,  and  does  not  lose  its  faith,  for  all 
these  darkeners  of  counsel  may  say.  As  in  the  roaring  loom  of 
Time  the  endless  web  of  events  is  woven,  each  strand  shall  make 
more  and  more  clearly  visible  the  living  garment  of  God. —  (The 
Idea  of  God) — Fiske. 

But  that  rare  quality,  that  national  dream, 
That  lies  behind  this  genius  at  its  core, 

Which  gave  it  vision,  utterance;  evermore. 
It  will  be  with  us,  as  those  stars  that  gleam. 

Eternal,  hid  behind  the  lights  of  day, 
A  people's  best,  that  may  not  pass  away. 

—Wilfred  Campbell. 


—92— 


CHAPTER  V. 


A  NEW  VOICE  IN  PROTESTANTISM. 

The  19th  Century  was  unique  in  religious  tendencies. 
The  Revival  of  Learning  and  the  Reformation  which 
followed,  the  two  creators  of  the  revolution,  which  ef- 
fected a  disturbance  in  every  department  and  condition 
of  life,  were  in  the  past.  Yet,  they  had  generated  a  tem- 
per of  mind  and  a  spirit  of  investigation  which  was  still 
going  on.  The  tendency  with  which  we  have  at  present 
to  do  is  that  in  the  Protestant  Reformation  which  tended 
to  crystallisation.  It  was  thought  that  the  reformers  had 
completed  their  work,  whereas  they  had  only  announced 
principles  for  further  development.  This  has  ever  been 
the  real  danger  in  reform,  this  recognition  of  complete- 
ness which  arrests  all  further  progress. 

The  religious  world  had  become  a  world  of  sects ;  each 
rallying  around  its  peculiar  standard  and  making  war- 
fare upon  all  the  rest  who  differed  from  its  chosen  tenets. 
This  was  the  condition  that  greeted  ]\Ir.  Campbell  as  he 
found  himself  upon  the  field  of  action  in  the  New  World. 
It  is  true  that  the  "flowers  of  freedom"  were  blooming, 
but  too  often  they  were  blooming  in  the  sky.  Especially 
was  this  true  in  the  realm  of  religion.  In  the  world  of 
ideas  they  were  found  in  profusion,  while  they  were  rare 
in  the  fields  of  practicality. 

—93— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Mr.  Campbell's  progressive  nature  at  once  rebelled"" 
he  had  not  so  learned  Protestantism.  He  lost  no  time  in 
scenting  the  real  difficulty  and  at  once  announced  him- 
self as  the  herald  of  a  true  Protestantism.  Thus,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  19th  century  in  America  A  New  Voice 
Was  Heard  in  Protestantism.  His  work  began  in  a  pro- 
test. Not  a  protest  against  the  mighty  achievements  of 
the  past  reformers,  but  a  protest  against  the  church  of 
the  day  in  not  carrying  out  to  their  logical  end  the  car- 
dinal principles  of  the  Protestant  reformation.  It  was  a 
protest  against  narrowness,  as  it  was  a  protest  against 
stationariness.  It  became  a  challenge  for  liberty,  the 
foundation  plank  in  Protestantism. 

Nor  did  he  feel  any  disgrace  in  posing  as  a  protester. 
On  the  contrary,  he  felt  the  dignity  of  the  situation.  He 
says : 

"There  is  a  nobility,  a  moral  grandeur  of  soul,  in  saying,  7 
protest  against  such  a  law  or  statute.  To  protest  innocence  is 
sometimes  just  and  necessary.  To  protest  against  political 
tyranny,  is  often  expedient;  to  protest  against  religious  usurpa- 
tion and  ecclesiastic  despotism,  cap*  the  climax  of  human  nobility 
and  grandeur.  And  none  but  Heaven's  own  noble  men  can, 
ex  animo,  make  such  a  sublime  protestation, 

He  makes  clear  his  conception  of  Protestantism  in 
these  words, 

"But  in  speaking  of  Protestantism  we  speak  not  of  a  pretend- 
ed Protestantism,  but  of  a  true,  real  and  unsophisticated  Protest- 
antism— and  what  is  Protestantism  but  a  solemn  negation  of  all 

1  Add.,  p.  171. 

—94— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


human  dictation  and  usurpation  over  men's  understanding,  con- 
science and  affections;  over  his  personal  Hberty  of  thought,  of 
speech  and  of  action,  in  reference  to  each  and  every  thing  per- 
taining to  himself,  his  fellows,  his  God  and  his  Redeemer? 
Education,  religion,  morals  and  politics  are,  therefore,  the  field 
and  realms  over  which  Protestantism,  de  jure  divino,  presides. 
*  *  *  It  is  not  possible,  or,  in  other  words,  it  is  not  in  human 
nature,  to  love  liberty,  freedom  of  thought,  of  speech  and  of 
action,  in  the  state,  and  to  hate  it  in  the  church ;  or  to  love  it 
in  the  church  and  to  hate  it  in  the  state.  The  love  of  liberty  is 
a  law  or  principle  as  uniform  and  immutable  as  the  law  of 
gravity,  I  mean  liberty — rational,  moral,  social  liberty;  not 
licentiousness,  recklessness,  lawlessness;  I  mean  not  lust  nor  pas- 
sion, the  love  of  plunder  and  robbery.  It  is  a  moral  principle, 
founded  upon  the  perception  and  approbation  of  justice  and 
humanity."^ 

So  fundamental  is  this  idea  to  him  that  he  continues, 

"The  very  word  Protestant  implies  thought,  examination,  dis- 
sent and  self-reliance.  Who  protests  without  reflection,  com- 
parison, deduction,  and  some  degree  of  mental  independence,  as 
well  as  of  self-reliance?  These,  too,  are  verily  the  elements  of 
all  human  greatness,  of  all  comparative  excellence.  The 
Protestant  Reformation,  notwithstanding  all  that  can  be  said 
against  it,  was  the  regeneration  of  literature,  science,  art,  poli- 
tics, trade,  commerce,  agriculture.  Hence,  the  more  Protestant  a 
people,  the  more  elevated  in  all  the  elements  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion, self-thinking — pardon  the  anomalous  expression,  for  there 
are  millions  who  possess  not  the  art  or  mystery  of  self-thinking; 
when  they  think,  their  minds  are  only  listening  to  some  other 
thinking,  speaking  or  moving  within  them — I  say  Self -Thinking 
and  Self-Reliance  are  the  two  main  elements  of  personal,  social, 
national  greatness  and  goodness.   These  are  the  pillars  of  true  re- 


1  Add.,  pp.  171,173. 


—95— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


ligion,  true  learning,  true  science,  true  prosperity,  true  great- 
ness. By  self-thinking  and  self-reliance  I  do  not  mean  con- 
fidence in  the  flesh,  pride,  self-conceit;  I  mean  the  confident  ap- 
plication of  our  minds  to  the  means  of  intellectual,  moral,  po- 
litical and  religions  improvement,  in  the  hope  of  improving  our- 
selves and  our  condition.    *    *  * 

"Freedom  of  thought,  freedom  of  speech,  mental  independence, 
self-thinking,  self-relying,  give  to  Protestant  communities  a 
spirit,  a  character,  and  elevation,  that  deeply  imprint  themselves 
on  all  the  products  of  their  mind,  on  all  the  labors  of  their 
hands.   *   *  * 

"They  imprison  no  one  for  affirming  that  stars  do  not  fall; 
that  the  earth  moves.  They  exile  no  one  for  thinking  that  there 
may  yet  be  a  new  continent,  that  the  number  of  worlds  is  in- 
calculable, or  that  the  Pope  may  err.  They  put  no  one  to  tor- 
ture or  to  death  for  thinking  for  himself  on  religion,  science  or 
the  arts;  therefore,  they  continually  progress,  and  leave  far  in 
the  distance  behind  those  who  allow  or  license  one  man  to  think 
for  millions,  and  sternly  command  acquiescence  in  his  dogmas."^ 

This  right  to  think  for  one's  self  is  so  revolutionary 
in  its  effects  that  Mr.  Campbell  recognizes  in  it  the  germ 
of  the  revolutionary  changes  which  followed  the  Refor- 
mation.   He  says, 

"If,  in  accordance  with  the  philosophy  of  things,  we  could  trace 
effects  from  their  immediate  to  their  remote  causes,  it  is  pre- 
sumed that  we  would  find  the  momentous  changes  already  accom- 
plished in  English  society,  whether  in  the  Old  World  or  in  the 
New,  to  be  the  legitimate  consequence  of  a  single  maxim,  con- 
secrated into  a  rule  of  action,  both  by  the  precept  and  the  ex- 
ample of  the  master-spirit  of  the  Protestant  Reformation.  That 
maxim  is,  'Man  by  nature  is,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  a  think- 
ing being.'    Hence,  it  is  decreed  that,  as  a  matter  of  policy, 

1  Add.,  p.  33. 

—96— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


of  morality  and  of  religion,  he  ought  not  only  to  think,  but  to 
think  for  himself.  *  *  *  'pQ  ^j^^  inculcation  of  this  obliga- 
tion, more  than  to  any  other  precept  in  the  religious  or  moral 
code,  was  Martin  Luther  indebted  for  that  eminent  success 
which  elevated  him  to  the  highest  niche  in  the  temple  consecrated 
to  the  memory  of  European  and  American  benefactors. 

"Nor  is  the  day  far  distant,  in  our  anticipation  of  the  ap- 
proaching future,  when  the  philosophic  historian,  in  his  attempts 
to  trace  to  its  proper  cause  the  general  superiority  of  that  por- 
tion of  our  race  which  speaks  the  English  tongue,  in  whatever 
land,  under  whatever  sky  it  may  happen  to  have  its  being,  will 
find  it  supremely,  if  not  exclusively,  in  the  single  fact  that  the 
English  nation  first  adopted  the  Luthern  creed  of  thinking,  speak- 
ing and  writing  without  restraint  on  every  subject  of  importance 
to  the  individual  and  to  society.    *   *  * 

"Hence,  the  impetus  given  to  the  mind  by  the  Protestant 
Reformation  extends  into  every  science,  into  every  art,  into  all 
the  business  of  life,  and  continues,  with  increased  and  increasing 
energy  to  consume  and  waste  the  influence  of  every  existing  in- 
stitution, law  and  custom  not  founded  upon  eternal  truth  and 
the  immutable  and  invincible  nature  of  things."^ 

It  was  not,  therefore,  against  the  reformers  that  Mr. 
Campbell  protested.  In  them  he  finds  the  heralds  of  a 
new  era  of  liberty  and  freedom.  His  protest  was  directed 
to  the  failure  to  carry  out  what  they  begun.  With  this 
staying  of  the  Protestant  principles,  in  speaking  of  Lu- 
ther, he  says, 

"But  unfortunately,  at  his  death,  there  was  no  Joshua  to  lead 
the  people,  who  rallied  under  the  banners  of  the  Bible,  out  of  the 
wilderness  in  which  Luther  died.  His  tenets  were  soon  con- 
verted into  a  new  state  religion;  and  the  spirit  of  Reformation 


1  Add.,  p.  453. 
(7) 


—97— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


which  he  excited  and  inspired  was  soon  quenched  by  the  broils 
and  feuds  of  the  Protestant  princes,  and  the  collision  of  rival 
political  interests,  both  on  the  continent  and  in  the  islands  of 
Europe  *  *  *  A  secret  lust  in  the  bosoms  of  Protestants  for 
ecclesiastical  power  and  patronage  worked  in  the  members  of 
the  Protestant  Popes,  who  gradually  assimilated  the  new  church 
to  the  old.  Creeds  and  manuals,  synods  and  councils,  soon 
shackled  the  minds  of  men,  and  the  spirit  of  reformation  grad- 
ually forsook  the  Protestant  church,  or  was  supplanted  by  the 
spirit  of  the  world.    *    *  * 

"Calvin  renewed  the  speculative  theology  of  Saint  Augustine, 
and  Geneva  in  a  few  years  became  the  Alexandria  of  modern 
Europe.  The  power  of  religion  was  soon  merged  in  debates 
about  forms  and  ceremonies,  in  speculative  strifes  of  opinion, 
and  in  fierce  debates  about  the  political  and  religious  right  of 
burning  heretics.  Still,  however,  in  all  these  collisions  much  light 
was  elicited.   *   *  * 

"After  the  Protestants  had  debated  their  own  principles  with 
one  another,  till  they  lost  all  brotherly  affection,  and  would  as 
soon  have  'communed  in  the  sacrament'  with  the  Catholics  as 
with  one  another;  speculative  abstracts  of  Christian  Platonism, 
the  sublime  mysteries  of  Egyptian  theology,  became  alternately 
the  bond  of  union  and  the  apple  of  discord,  among  the  fathers  and 
friends  of  the  reformation."^ 

Not  only  does  Mr.  Campbell  see  in  Protestantism 
the  unprogressive  state  of  fixity  to  be  its  death  warrant, 
but  he  finds  Protestantism  fundamentally  at  faidt  in  its 
point  of  departure.  It  began  at  the  wrong  place.  He 
says : 

A  reformation  of  Popery  was  attempted  in  Europe  full  three 
centuries  ago.  It  ended  in  a  Protestant  hierarchy,  and  swarms 
of  dissenters.    *    *    *    None  of  these  has  begun  at  the  right 

1  Ch.  Sys.,  pp.  3,4. 

—98— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


place.  All  of  them  retain  in  their  bosom,  in  their  ecclesiastic  or- 
ganization, worship,  doctrines  and  observances,  various  relics  of 
Popery.  They  are,  at  best,  but  a  reformation  of  Popery,  and 
only  reformation  in  part    *   *  * 

"Living  then,  as  we  do,  in  the  midst  of  such  abortive  efforts 
art  reformation,  seeing  the  progress  of  error,  and  regretting  the 
feeble  and  slow  advances  of  the  gospel  upon  even  the  outposts  of 
error,  infidelity,  and  abounding  iniquity,  we  are  constrained  to 
inquire,  if  anything  can  be  done;  and  if  anything,  what  it  should 
be,  and  how  attempted?"^ 

He  then  points  out  how  little  was  accomplished  under 
these  efforts,  and  feels  that  to  rally  under  the  old  ban- 
ners is  but  to  fight  the  old  battles  over  again.  "These 
have  all  been  tried."  The  capital  mistake  in  them  all  is 
that  they  each  emphasized  and  built  around  certain  pe- 
culiar truths  to  the  neglect  of  catholic  ones.   He  says, 

"Protestant  parties  are  all  founded  upon  Protestant  peculiar- 
ities. Indeed,  there  is  but  one  radical  and  distinctive  idea  in  any 
one  of  them.  That  is,  their  center  of  attraction  and  of  radia- 
tion. *  *  *  They  build  on  what  is  peculiar,  and  then,  in 
effect,  undervalue  that  which  is  common  to  them  all."" 

He  then  stakes  out  such  broad  ground  as  this: 

"Now,  it  appears  to  us,  the  things  which  are  most  commonly 
believed  are  most  valuable,  certainly  much  more  valuable  than 
any  one  of  the  partisan  peculiarities.  *  *  *  We  conclude, 
then,  that  a  party  founded  on  all  that  is  commonly  received  by 
Romanists,  Greeks  and  Protestants,  and  nothing  more,  would  not 
only  be  a  new  party,  one  entirely  new,  but  incomparably  more 
rational,  and  certainly  more  scriptural  than  any  of  them."' 

lBapt.,p.  15.   8Bapt.,p.  17.  3  Ibid.,  p.  17. 

—99— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


In  getting  a  comprehensive  grasp  of  the  cathoHc  truths 
thus  held,  he  is  directed  back  to  Christ,  for  he  finds  them 
centering  about  him  and  his  salvation.  Therefore  he  is 
able  to  propose  an  "Evangelical  Reformation"  by  a  re- 
turn, a  restoration  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  gospel. 

Such  did  Mr.  Campbell  find  the  condition  of  his  times 
to  be.  Yet  he  was  not  dismayed.  On  the  contrary,  he 
said, 

"I  stand  here  as  a  Protestant.  *  *  *  in  advocating  the 
great  cardinal  principles  of  Protestantism  I  feel  that  I  stand 
upon  a  rock."^ 

In  such  circumstances  he  found  his  ta^k.  In  the  strict 
sense  of  the  word  it  was  not  as  a  reformer;  for  as  he 
suggests,  how  can  one  reform  the  reformation  ?  He  does 
not  feel  the  need  of  going  back  to  the  fathers.  Not  the 
speculations  of  the  fathers  but  the  religion  of  Jesus,  he 
observes,  is  the  real  need,  so  he  says, 

"Human  systems,  whether  of  philosophy  or  of  religion,  are 
proper  subjects  of  reformation;  but  Christianity  cannot  be  re- 
formed. Every  attempt  to  reform  Christianity  is  like  an  attempt 
to  create  a  new  sun,  or  to  change  the  revolution  of  the  Heavenly 
bodies — unprofitable  and  vain.  In  a  word,  we  have  had  reforma- 
tions enough." 

Again,  he  comes  to  the  gist  of  the  whole  question  as 
he  says, 

"  'To  reform  the  Reformation'  is,  indeed,  a  hard  matter — and 
why?  Because  many  think  the  Reformation  was  complete. 
*   *   *   The  greatest  moral  calamity  that   has   befallen  the 

1  D.  on  R.  C.  R.,  p.  49. 

—100— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Protestants  is  this,  that  they  imagined  the  Reformation  was  fin- 
ished when  Luther  and  Calvin  died." 

With  Mr.  Campbell  a  true  Protestantism  was  a  pro- 
gressive affair,  not  going  back  to  the  fathers  to  reform 
what  had  been  formed  by  them.  In  this  fact,  that  Protest- 
antism had  become  fixed  and  stationary  while  it  was  by 
right  and  nature  progressive,  Mr.  Campbell  found  his 
point  of  departure  for  his  whole  life's  work.  He  was  to 
contend  for  a  true  Protestantism,  and,  as  a  free  being, 
he  reserved  for  himself  the  right  to  return  to  the  orig- 
inal source. 

Says  Prof.  Brown^:  "Protestantism  stands  before  all 
things  for  a  new  spirit;  a  new  conception  of  the  entire 
relation  between  God  and  man.  It  is  a  relation  of  free- 
dom which  gives  each  man  a  right  to  go  back  for  him- 
self to  the  source  of  divine  revelation,  and,  in  the  light 
of  that  which  he  there  finds,  to  judge  all  later  utterances 
of  the  church." 

Mr.  Campbell  availing  himself  of  this  privilege  made 
a  return  not  to  the  fathers,  but  beyond  the  fathers  *  *  * 
"Back  to  Christ."  Thus,  then,  there  was  in  America,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  19th  Century,  a  young  man  *  * 
a  new  voice  in  Protestantism,  calling  for  a  return  to  the 
Christ. 

In  speaking  of  the  founder  of  the  Christian  religion,  he 
says, 

"The  lives  or  conduct  of  his  disciples  may  be  reformed,  but  his 
religion  can  not.   The  religion  of  Rome,  or  England,  or  of  Scot- 

1  Christian  Theol.  in  OuUine,  p.  19. 

—101— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


land,  may  be  reformed,  but  the  religion  of  Jesus  never  can. 
When  we  have  found  ourselves  out  of  the  way,  we  may  seek  for 
the  ancient  paths,  but  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  invent  paths  for  our 
own  feet.    We  should  return  to  the  Lord." 

Thenceforth  this  cry  ''Return  *  *  restore  the  ancient 
order  of  things"  rang  down  through  the  19th  century 
with  no  uncertain  note.  He  defines  clearly  what  he 
means  by  restoration  in  these  words, 

"To  bring  the  societies  of  Christians  up  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  just  to  bring  the  disciples  individually  and  collectively  to 
walk  in  the  faith,  and  in  the  commandments  of  the  L,ord  and 
Savior,  as  presented  in  that  blessed  volume;  and  this  is  to  re- 
store the  ancient  order  of  things.^ 

The  old  watch-word  of  the  reformation,  "The  Bible, 
and  the  Bible  alone,  is  the  religion  of  Protestantism,"  was 
renewed  by  Mr.  Campbell  in  opposition  to  the  opinions 
and  speculations  of  men.  He  pleaded  for  a  restored  Bible 
that  he  might  have  a  restored  Christ.  This  became  his 
life  labor  in  which  he  never  faltered,  grew  weary,  or 
lost  confidence  in  a  victorious  outcome.  He  went  forth 
in  the  spirit  of  Herrmann's  word  and  fulfilled  his  idea 
of  the  true  theologian's  task.^  "But  if  we  gain  a  clear  in- 
sight into  what  the  Bible  ought  to  be  for  every  Christian, 
namely,  the  means  by  which  with  his  own  vision  he  lays 
hold  of  the  person  of  Jesus,  then  it  is  easy  to  see  what 
attitude  towards  the  Christian  community  must  be  taken 
up  by  the  theologian  called  to  her  service.  He  must  be 
ready  to  impart  to  her,  without  any  deduction,  the  scrip- 

1  C.  B.,  p.  128.  2  Communion  with  God,  p.  10. 

—102.— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


tural  tradition,  and  must  possess  the  faculty  of  showing 
the  people  how  they  can  use  this  means  to  reach  that  one 
end.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  ecclesiastical  author- 
ities should  be  in  the  habit  of  demanding  from  such  a 
man  that  he  shall  'believe'  a  sum  of  doctrines  prescribed 
by  them,  be  it  ever  so  small,  then  they  would  be  guilty  of 
a  tyranny  which  ultimately  they  themselves  must  feel  to 
be  useless  and  barbarous." 

A  recent  writer  in  an  excellent  article  in  Hasting's 
Dictionary  of  Christ  and  His  Gospels,  p.  161  f,  voices 
the  true  feeling  of  Mr.  Campbell  in  his  longing  to  go 
back  to  the  fountain  source.  He  says :  "That  the  stream 
of  religion  flows  purer  at  its  fountain-head  than  its  low- 
er reaches  is  a  fact  which  the  study  of  every  historical 
religion  confirms.  As  a  religion  advances  through  his- 
tory, it  loses  something  of  its  idealism  and  becomes  more 
secular,  takes  up  foreign  elements,  accumulates  dog- 
mas and  ceremonies,  parts  with  its  simplicity  and  spon- 
taneity, and  becomes  more  and  more  a  human  construc- 
tion. And  every  religious  reform  has  signified  a  throw- 
ing off  of  foreign  accretions,  and  a  return  to  the  sim- 
plicity and  purity  of  the  source.  Did  not  Christ  him- 
self represent  a  reaction  from  the  elaborate  legal  and  cer- 
emonial system  of  Judaism  to  the  simpler  and  more  eth- 
ical faith  of  the  prophets?  The  reformation  was  a  re- 
turn to  primitive  Christianity,  but  less  to  Christ  than  to 
St.  Paul  and  the  early  disciples." 

So  in  Mr.  Campbell  in  his  demand  for  a  return  to  the 
ancient   landmarks,    we   see  a  man  going  backward. 

^103— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Queer  spectacle  for  such  progressive  spirit!  But  so 
far  does  he  go  backwards,  and  no  farther  does  he  go, 
than  to  the  Chief  Corner  Stone  of  the  Prophets  and 
Apostles,  that  we  really  find  him  to  be  a  man  going  back- 
ward that  he  may  go  forward.  To  those  who  designate 
the  cry  "Back  to  Christ"  a  "Crab  Cry",  let  it  be  said, 
that  with  ]\Ir.  Campbell  it  was  not  a  going  back  to  the 
crabs  but  far  beyond  them  to  the  very  source  of  life  it- 
self. It  becomes  often  necessary  to  go  back  that  one  may 
go  forward. 

Principal  Fairbairn  expresses  ]\Ir.  Campbell's  senti- 
ments when  he  says' :  "The  fathers  cannot  explain 
Christ,  though  he  can  explain  the  fathers.  He  is  ultimate, 
but  they  are  derivative  *  *  This  return  *  *  * 
must  proceed  from  the  source  downwards,  and  not  simply 
be  contented  to  judge  the  source  by  what  we  find  far 
down  the  stream.  Above  in  the  fountain  there  is  purity, 
but  below  in  the  river  impurities  that  gather  as  the 
course  lengthens  and  the  fields  tilled  and  reaped  of  men 
are  drained  into  its  waters." 

With  such  temper  of  mind  did  ]\Ir.  Campbell  plead 
for  the  restoration  of  the  gospel.  He  would  go  and  find 
it  in  its  simplicity  and  purity  in  Jesus  himself.  As  he 
thought,  and  reasoned,  and  pleaded  the  inmost  longing 
of  his  heart  ever  was,  as  expressed  in  Whittier's  lines, 

"Our  Friend,  our  Brother  and  our  Lord, 
What  may  thy  service  be? 
Nor  name,  nor  form,  nor  written  word. 
But  simply  following  Thee." 

I      The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theology,  p.  296. 

—104— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Did  Protestantism  need  such  a  Voice  ?  He  was  a  man 
whose  deep  insight  pierced  the  static  and  stereotyped 
condition  of  Protestantism.  He  was  one  who  beheved  a 
true  Protestantism  to  be  progressive.  He  said  in  his 
return,  let  us  not  go  back  to  the  creeds  of  the  fathers 
but  to  the  Bible  itself;  let  us  not  stop  with  the  fathers 
but  return  to  the  Christ.  That  he  was  a  man  deeply 
possessed  with  the  progressive  spirit  of  his  times  none 
can  doubt.  If  in  doubt  about  his  being  the  one  the  world 
needed  to  wrestle  with  the  forces  of  the  day  and  to  con- 
tend for  a  true  Protestantism,  put  yourself  in  touch  with 
his  methods  and  witness  how  he  adjusted  himself  to  the 
task.  Watch  the  man  as  he  works.  What  will  the  New 
Voice  in  Protestantism  speak?  We  may  yet  be  able  to 
say  wnth  Robert  Owen,  of  England,  Mr.  Campbell's  op- 
ponent in  the  debate  on  infidelity :  "The  friends  of  truth, 
on  which  ever  side  it  may  be  found,  are  now  more  in- 
debted to  Mr.  Campbell  than  any  other  Christian  min- 
ister of  the  present  day."^ 

2  Evidences,  p.  405. 


^105— 


PART  II. 
Liberty  and  the  Bible. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Bible  Restored. 


It  is  amusing  to  observe  that  some  of  our  brethren  are 
alarmed  over  this  ringing  call  for  a  gospel  which  is  informed 
by  knowledge  of  present-day  conditions.  We  are  told  in  cer- 
tain quarters  that  men  who  call  for  such  presentation  of  the 
"present  truth"  are  "attacking  the  plea."  One  is  tempted  to 
wonder  what  sort  of  a  delicate  and  sensitive  thing  this  "plea" 
is  that  it  has  to  be  guarded  so  carefully  upon  the  approach  of 
a  modern  idea.  One  would  imagine  that  these  brethren  were 
in  fear  lest  some  rude  hand  might  disfigure  the  "plea"  beyond 
recognition  with  a  touch  of  up-to-dateness.  Do  they  really 
mean  to  say  that  they  take  in  the  "plea"  every  night  to  pro- 
tect it  from  the  frost,  or  hide  it  as  one  would  an  endangered 
gate  on  Hallowe'en  ? 

We  can  fancy  the  smile  of  humor  with  which  one  of  the 
fathers  of  this  reformation  would  have  read  such  a  lament 
over  the  effort  to  present  matters  in  a  light  adjusted  to  the 
age.  The  attacking  of  traditional  and  archaic  ideas  and  phrases 
was  their  certain  daily  pastime.  We  can  imagine  that  the 
conservators  of  orthodoxy  felt  certain  that  every  belief  and 
opinion  which  was  left  out  over  night  was  sure  to  be  gone 
before  morning.  The  warriors  of  the  first  generation  of  this 
movement  delighted  in  nothing  so  much  as  the  task  of  chal- 
lenging and  overthrowing  a  time-honored  and  cherished  opinion 
which  was  compelled  to  back  into  the  shell  of  orthodoxy  at 
the  approach  of  an  idea.  He  has  studied  the  lives  of  the 
fathers  to  little  purpose  who  has  not  discerned  their  insist- 
ence upon  facing  facts  as  they  are,  and  not  as  they  were  at 
some  previous  time.  He  alone  can  be  true  either  to  the  New 
Testament  or  to  the  spirit  of  this  reformation  who  constantly 
studies  to  show  himself  approved  unto  God,  rightly  interpret- 
ing the  Word  of  Truth. 

If  the  plea  of  the  Disciples  for  the  union  of  the  people  of 
God  in  accordance  with  the  apostolic  program  is  endangered 
by  the  appeal  for  freshness  of  light  and  leading,  for  open- 
mindedness  and  adjustment  of  things  as  they  are,  then  it  needs 
restatement  to  bring  it  into  conformity  with  the  spirit  of  the 
New  Testament  and  the  pioneers.— H.  L.  W.,  The  Christian 
Centur>',  Nov.  15,  '06. 


—110— 


CHAPTER  1. 


THE  BIBLE  RESTORED. 

The  Renaissance  was  an  intellectual  revolt  from  the 
tyranny  of  forms  which  shackled  the  mind,  keeping  it 
bound  to  the  past,  thus  hindering  all  originality,  spon- 
taneity and  progress.  This  breaking  away  issued  in  a 
beautiful  life  of  the  spirit  which  has  permeated  all  the 
literature  of  the  world.  The  Reformation  which  grew 
out  of  it  was  not  so  much  a  revolt  of  mind  as  a  religious 
rebellion.  It  sprang  from  the  heart  of  Luther  which  in 
its  experience  felt  the  awful  bondage  of  works  and  their 
impotence  to  grant  peace  to  the  soul.  The  righteousness 
gained  through  works  was  mechanical  and  barren.  The 
holiest  efforts  became  stifled.  There  was  no  creative 
impulse.  There  was  no  rise  of  the  soul  to  God.  Luther's 
experience  of  the  great  truth  "that  the  just  shall  live 
by  faith"  gave  him  the  key  to  a  world  of  peace  into 
which  the  succeeding  generations  have  entered  and  found 
soul  satisfaction. 

Both  the  Revival  of  Learning  and  the  Revival  of  Re- 
ligion, which  in  development  largely  coalesced,  were  in 
their  most  characteristic  phases,  but  attempts  to  burst 
the  bars  of  prison  doors  that  the  mind  and  the  spirit 
might  enter  into  their  true  heritage  in  a  world  of  free- 
will— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


dom.  They  were  risings  out  of  the  grave  of  the  past 
to  the  hfe,  light,  and  beauty  of  the  present.  Yet,  how 
few  out  of  the  mass  of  humanity  by  the  time  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century  had  entered  into  these  new-brought 
blessings!  These  hard-earned  treasures  were  prized 
only  by  the  privileged  few.  They  were  worn  only  by 
those  who  constituted  themselves  the  chosen  ones  by 
struggle  and  experience  akin  to  the  reformers.  So 
ever  comes  life's  heritage!  We  cannot  take  it  over 
without  price  or  pains.    There  is  no  magical  inheritance. 

If  it  would  do  us  any  real  service,  if  it  would  mean 
anything  to  us,  if  it  would  lift  us  to  its  own  level  and  be- 
yond it,  we  must  each  share  the  toil,  we  must  each  out 
of  our  own  experience  gain  it  anew. 

Because  tliis  is  true,  because  the  world  was  still  in 
ignorance,  superstition,  and  in  bondage  to  form,  Mr. 
Campbell  had  a  large  field  for  action.  He,  too,  came  to 
his  task  out  of  a  deep  and  grozcing  experience.  It  was 
an  experience  which  reached  the  whole  man,  and  sounded 
the  depths  of  his  being.  Feeling,  intellect  and  will  at 
once  rebelled  Out  of  this  experience  both  the  spirit 
of  the  Renaissance  and  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation 
were  born  anew,  and  came  to  life  as  one  strong  over- 
mastering passion  for  personal  liberty  to  find  God,  to 
know  Him,  and  to  serve  Him.  It  was  to  him  a  time 
such  as  Prof.  Swing  notes  of  Ritschl *'It  was  to  him 
the  beginning  of  a  time  of  transition  from  his  inherited 

1  The  Theology  of  Albrecht  Ritschl,  p.  11. 

—112— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


faith  to  a  faith  of  his  own."  Of  this  experience  Mr. 
Campbell  says: 

"But  my  own  mind  labored  under  the  perniciou3  influence 
of  scholastic  divinity,  and  the  Calvinian  metaphysics;  and  al- 
though I  greatly  desired  to  stand  perfect  and  complete  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  will  of  God,  and  my  conscience  could  bow 
to  nothing  but  the  authority  of  the  King  Eternal,  yet  a  full 
emancipation  from  the  tradition  of  the  elders  I  had  not  expe- 
rienced.   This  was  gradual  as  the  approaches  of  spring!"^ 

His  soul  was  yearning  for  God.  He  was  struggling 
for  the  personal  Christ  who^  Mr.  Campbell  believed, 
fully  revealed  the  Father.  But  the  Christ  was  lost.  He 
was  hidden  beneath  the  impersonal  accumulation  of  the 
ages.  Instead  of  the  personal  Jesus,  there  stood  bar- 
riers. He  was  confronted  by  tradition,  dogma,  creed, 
ritual,  form.    These  were  hiding  the  Christ. 

With  his  experience  came  vision.  He  saw  the  barriers 
fall  away.  The  children  of  the  Father,  in  the  liberty  of 
the  gospel,  were  laboring  together  in  the  harmony  of 
the  Master's  ideal.  His  soul  is  enraptured  by  this  splen- 
did vision  of  liberty  and  union.  Under  such  inspiration 
he  longs  and  hopes.  Faith  lives  strong  in  his  breast. 
Faith,  which  ever  takes  our  visions  from  the  air  of  our 
fancy  and  in  due  time  transforms  them  into  blessed 
realities.  Faith,  which  is  not  blind  to  the  difficulties,  but 
strong  in  victory.  So  out  of  the  silence  of  this  over- 
mastering  vision  comes  speech.  What  will  accomplish 
this?    It  can  be  done,  but  how?    What  will  bring  it 


1  C.  B.,p.661. 

(8) 


—113— 


"Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


about?  Not  the  Roman  idea  of  Unity,  that  had  already 
been  tried,  and  had  failed.  While  it  preserved  unity 
it  lost  liberty.  Nor  would  the  escape-from-Rome  do,  the 
opinions  and  speculations  of  men,  no  matter  how  well 
formulated  or  beautifully  clasped  together  in  creed  or 
statement.  There  must  be  something  more  vital  than 
mere  thought.  It  must  come  with  an  appeal  to  the  soul. 
It  must  come  with  an  authority  from  above.  What 
would  do  this?  The  religion  of  Jesus.  So  God  gives 
Mr.  Campbell  his  life-message.  His  task  is  programmed. 
It  is  to  return  to  the  fountain-head.  It  is  to  restore  to 
the  world  the  Christ  and  his  personal  gospel  of  life  in 
all  its  true  simplicity  and  pristine  purity. 
This  becomes  the  germ  of  his  plea  while  year  by  year 
it  unfolds  in  various  ways  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the 
times. 

This  was  not  the  first  return  to  the  Christ,  nor  the 
last.  There  are  many  returns.  Each  man,  out  of  his 
own  experience  in  longing  for  the  Christ  and  in  feeling 
the  separating  barriers,  may  rise  up,  and,  tearing  them 
away  the  best  he  can,  go  back  to  Christ.  The  uniqueness 
of  Mr.  Campbell's  return,  in  the  midst  of  a  peculiar 
set  of  circumstances,  gave  the  idea  clearer  expression 
and  made  it  more  possible  for  each  to  return. 

Perhaps  the  most  evident  feature  in  his  return,  aside 
from  sincerity,  is  his  undaunted  moral  heroism.  He 
was  unlike  the  religious  teachers  in  England  today  as 
depicted  by  J.  Allanson  Picton:^    "The  real  reason  for 

1  The  Finality  of  the  Christian  Religion  (Foster),  p.  14. 

—114— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


moral  failures  in  education  is  that  we  have  ceased  to 
believe  in  the  old  creeds,  and  have  not  the  moral  courage 
to  acknowledge  it  to  ourselves.  Or,  if  we  acknowledge 
it  to  ourselves,  our  case  is  still  worse,  for  we  maintain 
a  lying  pretense  before  others."  Mr.  Campbell  first 
made  his  acknowledgment  to  himself,  then,  facing  the 
word,  without  let  or  hindrance,  strenuously  sought  to 
tear  away  every  barrier  that  hid  from  view  the  Christ 
and  His  gospel. 

How  could  he  do  otherwise  since  he  had  adopted 
the  new  method  of  investigation?  He  had  yielded  the 
popular  superstitious  method  for  the  scientific.  Nor  did 
he  consider  this  a  machine  for  collecting  facts,  even  if 
they  were  true,  but  rather  a  distinctive  attitude  of  mind 
toward  truth.  We  have  found  him  to  be  one  with  open- 
ness of  mind,  accepting  facts  as  they  really  exist,  dis- 
satisfied with  any  half-way  solution,  and  having  found 
truth  determined  to  follow  it  whithersoever  it  might  lead. 
^Therefore  he  is  prepared  to  take  this  bold  stand : 

"The  consciousness  of  truth  will,  without  a  challenge,  court 
investigation,  and   defy  contradiction."^ 

One  prominent  and  commendable  feature  in  Mr. 
Campbell  is  his  touch  with  his  age.  In  every  sphere  of 
thought  and  activity  he  was  alive  to  the  spirit  of  his 
times.  So  much  is  this  true  that  Prof.  Hiram  Van  Kirk, 
in  his  able  work  on  "The  Rise  of  the  Current  Reforma- 
tion," p.  50,  can  say  of  him:  ''He  also  represented  the 
time-spirit  (Zeitgeist)  of   the  American  Republic  He 

ic.  f.  What  is  Truth  (Pritchett),  p.  8.   2  Evidences,  p.  284. 

—115— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


came  in  line  with  the  great  social  and  political  move- 
ments of  his  day.  He  was  the  voice  of  democracy,  of 
individualism  in  the  religious  sphere.  This  was  the  se- 
cret of  his  power." 

This  characterization  is  in  perfect  accord  with  Mr. 
Campbeirs  own  feeling  and  desire.    He  says : 

"The  motto  of  the  spirit  of  this  age  seems  to  be  taken  from 
the  gigantic  Young  'Flaws  in  the  best — full  man\'  flaws  all 
o'er.'  *  *  *  This  is  a  time  of  religious  and  political  earth- 
quakes. The  religious  communities  of  the  new  world  and  the 
political  states  of  the  old  world  are  in  circumstances  essen- 
tially the  same.  A  great  political  earthquake  threatens  to  bury 
in  its  ruins  tyrants  and  their  systems  of  oppression.  The 
ecclesiastical  systems  of  the  clergy  appear  destined  to  a  simi- 
lar fate.  It  is  to  be  hoped  then,  as  the  New  World  took  the 
lead  in,  and  first  experienced  the  blessings  of,  a  political  re- 
generation, so  they  will  be  foremost  in  the  work,  and  first 
in  participating  in  the  fruits  of,  an  ecclesiastical  renovation. 

*  *  *  [And  he  is  encouraged  to  see  signs  of  this.]  All 
sects,  new  and  old,  seem  like  a  reed  shaken  by  the  wind. 

*  *  *  Their  'Religious  Almanacs'  portend  comets,  falling 
stars,  and  strange  signs  in  the  heavens,  accompanied  with 
eclipses  of  the  greater  and  lesser  lights  that  rule  the  night. 
Their  constitution  is  moth-eaten,  and  the  tinsel  upon  their 
frame  of  discipline  has  become  dim."* 

Here  were  the  barriers  confronting  him  in  his  pur- 
pose to  return  to  the  purity  of  Christ  and  His  gospel. 
On  the  one  hand,  creeds  and  confessions  magnifying  the 
abstract  and  transcendent  elements  in  the  gospel  and 
confusing  and  dividing  the  people  of  God.      On  the 

1  C.  B.,  p.  213. 

—116— 


'Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


other  hand,  the  Bible  translated  by  a  superstitious  and 
sectional  age,  breathing  the  very  spirit  of  their  times 
into  the  translation;  moreover,  this  same  Bible  receiving 
a  traditional  interpretation  brought  over  from  these  same 
unscientific  times.  Set  in  such  conditions  what  would 
he  do?  Would  he  dare  to  brush  aside  as  worthless  the 
impersonal  stamp  of  the  creeds,  statements,  dogmas,  in 
his  quest  for  the  personal  gospel  truths?  This  he  did, 
bravely  and  unflinchingly.  This  was  part  of  his  de- 
structive work.  But  how  about  the  confronting  Bible 
in  which  was  enwrapped  the  Christ?  Unscientific  as  it 
was  in  both  its  translation  and  its  interpretation  it  was 
honored  as  "the  Book  of  the  Ages."  The  devout  rested 
their  all  in  this,  infallible  in  every  particular,  errorless, 
and  hence  authoritative  book.  To  question  it  in  the 
least  as  it  lay  before  them  was  either  to  wholly  destroy 
their  hope  in  it  or  to  call  down  the  wrath  of  heaven 
upon  the  daring  critic.  The  book  just  as  it  was  had 
grown  precious.  They  had  learned  to  worship  its  very 
form  and  prize  it  as  a  fetish.  So  much  was  it  a  charm 
that  one  who  would  take  an  oath  must  kiss,  germs  and 
all,  even  though  he  might  swear  to  a  lie.  Before  this 
long-honored  volume  how  was  Mr.  Campbell  to  stand? 
Would  he  dare  to  encroach  upon  its  sacredness? 

It  is  necessary,  in  order  to  understand  him  as  he 
enters  upon  his  radical  work  of  restoration,  to  keep  in 
mind  the  general  enlightenment  of  his  day.  It  is  only 
one  hundred  years  ago,  it  is  true.  Yet  it  was,  after  all 
the  enlightenment,  still  an  uncritical  and  superstitious  age 
—117— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


as  regards  the  masses.  It  required  a  long  time  for  the 
enlightenment,  the  true  meaning,  and  the  real  significance 
of  the  Renaissance  and  the  Reformation  to  become  the 
property  of  the  mass.  Even  now,  after  so  long  a  time, 
after  so  many  centuries  of  culture,  and  blood-bought 
culture  at  that,  we  find  large  sections  in  our  own  pro- 
gressive America  almost  untouched  with  the  world  of 
nobler  ideas.  They  are  out  of  touch  with  the  present 
order  and  living  only  in  the  superstitious  ages  of  the  past, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  last  century  was  unique 
in  dispensing  light  and  knowledge.  How  often  it  is  we 
see  men  in  their  devotions  hugging  the  dry,  barren  ma- 
teriality of  things  and  drawing  their  inspiration  from 
rocks  and  stones !  There  may  be  some  excuse  for  some. 
There  might  be  excuse  for  many  had  not  the  Son  of  God 
laid  bare  the  heart  of  things.  But  'hen  even  his  disciplts 
failed  to  grasp  and  comprehend  his  master-thought.  They 
were  thinking  low  when  they  might  have  been  thinking 
high.  They  were  the  losers.  He  withheld  many  fine 
revelations  from  them  simply  because  they  were  too  dull 
to  receive  them.  It  is  the  old  story,  "^^ly  people  perish 
for  lack  of  knowledge."  Such  become  the  losers,  yes, 
both  sad  and  true,  but  just  as  true  and  sadder  still,  is  the 
fact  that  every  soul  touches  the  great  universe  of  other 
souls  and  the  failure  of  one  is  shared  by  all.  And  such 
consideration  were  pessimistic  as  well  as  sad  were  it  not 
the  truth  that  among  men  the  heart  is  leader  above  the 
head.  Thus  even  amid  the  materialistic  grasp  of  things 
there  is  something  in  the  heart  of  hearts  that  is  directive. 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Though  men  think  low  among  the  forms,  never  getting 
at  the  heart  of  things,  yet  their  lives  do  blossom  into  love 
and  duty.  We  may  thank  God  that  life  is  greater  than 
thought.  Yet  thinking  is  not  to  be  dispensed  v^ith  in 
God's  order.  Learning  of  the  right  kind  is  invaluable 
to  culture. 

It  is  amazing  hov^  little  had  been  done  in  behalf  of 
general  education  when  Mr.  Campbell  began  his  work. 
The  year  1809,  when  he  came  to  America,  Pestalozzi 
was  just  at  the  zenith  of  his  educational  fame.  Froebel 
was  then  studying  under  him  as  a  pupil.  In  Germany 
the  great  universities  were  not  yet  established.  Not  until 
1810  was  Berlin;  Breslau  in  1811;  Bonn  in  1818;  and 
Strasburg  not  till  1872 !  Mr.  Campbell  was  seven  years 
old  before  France  awakened  to  an  interest  in  popular 
education.  The  English  government  did  not  concern 
itself  in  education  till  1818.  Until  1805  there  were  no 
public  free  schools  in  New  York  City,  and  it  was  not  until 
1853  that  a  free  public  school  system  was  established. 

The  new  impulse  in  education  was  the  work  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  From  Rousseau  came  the  idea  that 
education  is  life ;  that  it  must  center  in  the  child ;  and  must 
find  its  end  in  the  individual  and  in  each  particular  stage  of 
his  life.  From  Pestalozzi  came  that  conception  that  effi- 
cient educational  work  depends  upon  an  actual  knowl- 
edge of  the  child  and  a  genuine  sympathy  for  him,  that 
education  is  a  growth  from  within,  not  a  series  of  accre- 
tions from  without,  that  this  is  the  result  of  the  experi- 
ences or  activities  of  the  child,  and  that  sense  percep- 
—119— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 

tion,  not  processes  of  memory,  form  the  basis  of  early 
training. 

From  Herbart  came  the  contribution  of  a  scientific 
process  of  instruction,  and  character  as  the  aim  of  in- 
struction— to  be  reached  scientifically  through  the  use  of 
method  and  curriculum  as  defined. 

From  Froebel  came  the  true  conception  of  the  child's 
nature,  the  correct  adjustment  of  the  curriculum  to  this 
nature,  and  the  application  of  the  theory  of  evolution  to 
the  problem  of  education. 

From  the  scientific  tendency  came  the  insistence  upon 
a  revision  of  the  idea  of  a  liberal  education,  a  nev^  defini- 
tion of  culture  demanded  by  the  present  life,  and  that 
all  education  be  directed  to  the  development  of  the  free 
man — the  fully  developed  citizen.  From  the  Sociolog- 
ical tendency  came  the  idea  that  education  is  to  produce 
good  society,  good  citizens ;  that  it  is  to  do  this  through 
the  fullest  development  of  personality  in  the  individual; 
that  this  development  of  personal  ability  and  character 
must  fit  the  individual  for  citizenship,  life  in  institutions, 
social  activities — in  a  word,  that  one  must  learn  to  serve 
himself  by  serving  others.^ 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  new  education  did  not 
find  entrance  into  our  American  colleges  till  it  came  in 
with  the  rise  of  Charles  William  Eliot  to  the  presidency 
of  Harvard  in  1869,  three  years  after  Mr.  Campbell's 
death.  Nor  did  Eliot's  mighty  personality  bring  it  in  in 
a  moment  of  time.   Like  all  good  things  it  came  "as  the 

1  Text-Book  in  the  History  of  Education  (Monroe),  p.  748f. 

—120— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


approaches  of  spring."  And  some  will  never  forget  those 
days !  They  can  still  hear  the  crackling  ice !  They  can 
still  feel  the  alternate  changes  of  heat  and  cold,  of  cold 
and  heat,  as  the  sun  shone  sometimes  in  clear  sky,  and 
sometimes  behind  darksome  clouds!  With  the  stalwart 
Eliot  in  the  midst,  the  spring-time  full  of  life  and  beauty, 
came  at  last!    Then  reigned  perpetual  summer! 

One  might  expect  Mr.  Campbell  to  meet  opposition. 
From  the  state  of  general  enlightenment  his  advanced 
ideas  would  seem  over-critical  and  unsafe.  How  would 
Mr.  Campbell  adjust  himself  to  the  situation?  He  con- 
templated a  restoration  of  the  lost  Christ  and  His  gospel 
in  the  face  of  barriers  of  long-honored  establishment, 
and  which  had  grown  dear  to  adherents.  What  attitude 
would  he  take  toward  the  Bible,  before  a  people  who, 
like  Cowper's  pious  peasant  woman, 

"Just  know  and  know  no  more,  their  Bible  true, 
A  truth  the  brilliant  Frenchman  never  knew"  ? 

There  were  at  least  three  courses  open  to  him.  The 
first  was  just  to  throw  the  whole  Bible  overboard.  Give 
it  no  recognition  in  his  life  and  thought;  turn  skeptic 
and  allow  those  longings  and  dreamings  of  the  soul  to 
be  finally  crushed  out  by  a  crass  materialism.  Some  so 
did  when  they  turned  from  their  inherited  faith  in  the 
Bible  to  a  faith  of  their  own.  Or  secondly,  he  might 
turn  rationalist  and  accept  that  part  of  the  Bible  that  he 
could  consistently  think  true  and  toss  the  rest  overboard 
as  myth,  having  no  place  in  a  record  of  revelation.  Or 


'Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


thirdly,  he  might  take  the  attitude  of  narrow-timid  faith 
which  out  of  reverence  for  the  whole  dares  not  question 
a  part,  but  clings  to  it  as  it  is,  fearingly,  but  reverently, 
yet  without  question.  He  took  none  of  these  positions. 
Yet  he  did  take  a  most  positive  stand.  He  revolted 
against  the  Bible  as  it  was,  in  favor  of  the  Bible  as  it 
might  and  should  be.  He  would  destroy  the  Bible  as  it 
was,  in  order  to  restore  it  as  it  should  be.  He  w^ould 
give  to  the  world  not  a  rationalistic  Bible  shredded  so 
utterly  of  the  Divine  as  to  be  no  more  than  a  code  of 
beautiful  ethics,  but  a  rational  Bible  for  rational  men, 
containing  both  its  needed  human  element  and  its  es- 
sential Divine  revelation.  This  is  the  Bible  to  which  he 
would  make  his  return  for  the  Christ  and  his  gospel. 
So  as  a  basis  for  all  true  and  solid  building,  he  proposes 
a  restoration  of  the  Bible.  He  would  brush  away  the 
superstitious  accumulation  of  the  ignorance  of  the  past 
which  had  heaped  itself  upon  this  volume  and  get  back 
to  the  original  Jesus  and  his  personal  word.  To  many 
he  seemed  only  a  destructive  critic.  Hovrever,  he  was 
not  destructive.  Unless  one  calls  the  day  destructive 
because  it  vanishes  the  night ;  or  calls  the  sun  destructive 
because  it  melts  the  ice  and  gives  us  spring-time  with 
its  glad  promise,  and  summer  w'ith  its  flower  and  fruit- 
age; or  calls  the  seed  destructive  because  it  bursts  the 
shell  to  germinate  in  life  and  beauty;  or  calls  youth  de- 
structive because  it  leaves  its  infancy;  or  calls  maturity 
destructive  because  it  yields  up  its  former  stages  for  a 
good  old  age ;  or  calls  heaven  destructive  because  the 

—122— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


earth  becomes  swallowed  up  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 
No,  he  was  not  destructive  only.  Pure  destruction  par- 
alyzes. It  is  death.  Mr.  Campbell  was  pleading  for 
life,  more  life,  better  life,  life  abundant.  He  was  con- 
structive and  inspirational.  Destroying  only  the  base 
and  worthless  that  the  true  and  permanent  might  have 
existence.  So  he  pleads  for  a  better  Bible  and  welcomes 
anything  that  would  help  to  give  this.    He  says: 

"Anything  and  everything  which  tend  to  break  the  spell 
which  an  ignorant  and  bewildered  priesthood  have  thrown  over 
this  volume,  everything  which  can  contribute  to  a  more  clear 
and  comprehensive  understanding  of  the  volume,  is,  with  us, 
of  great  moment."^ 

He  would  come  to  this  book  not  as  a  storehouse  of 
dbctrines,  but  as  a  "book  of  life."  To  tear  away  the 
husk  that  the  essential  life  might  be  manifest  and  pre- 
served for  humanity,  he  felt  to  be  his  paramount  duty. 
In  such  an  endeavor  he  felt  himself  to  be  in  swing  with 
the  spirit  of  the  times.    Relative  to  this  he  says: 

"To  this  end,  it  is  also  essential  that  we  appreciate  and 
comprehend  the  character  and  spirit  of  our  own  age,  and  the 
actual  condition  of  the  Christian  profession  in  our  country, 
and,  indeed,  in  our  own  language,  wherever  spoken,  at  home 
or  abroad.  It  is  almost  as  difficult  to  appreciate  our  own 
times — the  spirit  and  progress  of  our  own  age — as  it  is  to 
see  ourselves,  either  as  others  see  us,  or  as  we  really  are."^ 

This  is  in  agreement  with  what  Dr.  Herbert  L.  Willett 
says:    ^"The  unwise  teacher  is  the  one  who  refuses  to 

1  C.  B.,  p.  483.   2  Add.,  p.  57O.     3  ch.  Cent.,  Nov.  22, 1906. 

—123— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


accept  the  spirit  of  the  age  as  in  any  sense  significant, 
and  throws  himself  into  the  useless  and  futile  task  of 
re-emphasizing  the  features  whose  very  over-emphasis 
has  resulted  in  the  reaction." 

]\Ir.  Campbell,  feeling  the  touch  of  his  age,  is  able  to 
champion  a  new  emphasis.  He  contends  for  a  Bible 
Vvhich  is  practically  a  new  Bible — a  Bible  so  translated 
and  interpreted  as  to  be  freed  from  the  superstitious 
encumbrances,  disclosing  the  original  Christ  and  his  mes- 
sage.   He  says: 

"Whatever,  then,  tends  to  the  true  interpretation  or  trans- 
lation of  the  living  oracles  into  the  language  of  our  Christen- 
dom is  an  object  of  transcendent,  nay,  of  paramount,  import- 
ance to  the  answer  and  accomplishment  of  our  Redeemer's 
prayer — to  the  health,  peace,  prosperity  and  ultim.ate  triumph 
of  our  most  holy  faith  over  all  the  superstitions  and  idolatries 
of  earth."* 

As  he  views  things  progressing,  and  witnesses  criti- 
cism undermining  human  authority,  he  breaks  forth  in 
an  eloquent  and  optimistic  outlook, — 

"The  progress  in  Bible-translating,  in  Biblical  criticism,  in 
liberal  principles,  in  the  free  discussion  of  all  questions  con- 
cerning state  and  church  polity,  has,  more  or  less,  broken  the 
spell  of  human  authority,  roused  the  long-latent  energies  of 
the  human  mind,  and  begotten  and  cherished  a  spirit  of  in- 
quiry before  which  truth  and  virtue  alone  can  stand  erect, 
with  a  portly  mien,  an  unblenching  eye  and  an  unfaltering 
tongue.  Errors  long  consecrated  in  hallowed  fanes,  backed 
by  monarchial  and  papal  authority,  lauded  by  lordly  bishops, 
canonized  by  hoary  rabbis  in  solemn  conclaves,  and  confirmed 

1  Add.,  p.  596. 

—124— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


by  the  decrees  of  oecumenical  councils,  are  being  disrobed  of 
all  their  factitious  ornaments  and  exposed  in  their  naked  de- 
formity to  the  wondering  gaze  of  a  long  insulted  and  degraded 
people.  The  inquiry  of  the  people  is  beginning  to  be,  What 
is  truth f — not,  Who  says  so?  What  say  the  oracles  of  God? — 
not.  What  council  has  so  decided?  We  must  be  judged  every 
man  for  himself.    We  shall,  therefore,  judge  for  ourselves. 

"The  Christian  mind,  since  the  era  of  Protestantism,  has 
been  advancing  with  a  slow  but  steady  pace,  an  onward  and 
an  upward  progress.  Its  noble  and  splendid  victories  in  phys- 
ical science,  in  useful  and  ornamental  arts,  in  free  govern- 
ment and  in  social  institutions,  have  increased  its  courage, 
animated  its  hopes  and  emboldened  its  efforts  to  find  its  proper 
eminence.  It  has  not  yet  fixed  its  own  destiny,  limited  its 
own  aspirations,  nor  stipulated  its  subordination  to  any  human 
arbitrament. 

"In  the  department  of  religion  and  divine  obligation  it  has 
tried  every  form  of  ecclesiastical  polity,  every  human  consti- 
tution and  variety  of  partisan  and  schismatic  theology,  and 
every  scheme  of  propagating  its  own  peculiar  tenets.  Nor  has 
it  yet  found  a  safe  and  sure  haven  in  which  to  anchor,  in 
hope  of  coming  safely  to  land.  It  will  not  surrender  nor 
capitulate  on  any  terms  dishonorable  to  its  own  dignity,  nor 
compromise  its  convictions  for  the  sake  of  popular  applause. 

"The  questions  of  the  present  day  are  more  grave  and 
momentous,  in  their  bearings  on  church  and  state,  than  any 
questions  propounded  and  discussed  in  former  times.  Even 
the  very  text  of  the  Holy  Bible  has  been  submitted  to  a  more 
severe  ordeal  and  test  than  at  any  former  time.  And  that 
the  holy  oracles  of  salvation  shall  go  forth  in  their  primitive 
purity  into  all  lands  and  languages  is  now  firmly  decided  by 
the  purest,  most  enlightened,  most  generous  and  noble-hearted 
men  in  the  world."^ 

1  Add.,  p.  625. 

— 125— • 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


Truth  was  what  Mr.  Campbell  was  wanting.  And  in 
its  quest  he  feared  not  light.  He  was  unlike  the  man 
to  whom  a  microscope  was  brought  which  revealed  to 
him  the  living  germs  in  the  water  he  drank;  he  there- 
upon smashed  the  microscope.  Upon  the  entrance  of 
light  too  many  scatter  as  the  insects  when  an  old  board 
is  lifted  from  their  cozy  retreat,  exposing  them  to  the 
light  and  radiance  of  God's  sunshine.  Mr.  Campbell's 
demand  for  light  was  co-existent  with  his  call  for  truth. 
He  says : 

"That  all  men  who  love  truth,  and  especially  Bible  truth, 
desire  to  come  to  the  light,  or  to  have  light  brought  to  them, 
is  as  clearly  an  historical  as  it  is  a  philosophical  fact.  It  is 
well  established  in  the  history  of  translations.  Were  I  to 
assert  dogmatically  that  truth  and  light  are  cognate,  I  would 
stake  my  reputation  on  the  fact  that  every  lover  of  truth  loves 
light.  The  Savior,  himself,  suggests  to  us  the  idea,  in  say- 
ing, 'He  that  doeth  truth  cometh  to  the  light,  that  his  deeds 
may  be  made  manifest  that  they  are  wrought  ot  God.'  Error 
or  falsehood,  and  darkness,  are  also  akin.  They  are  of  cognate 
pedigree.  Hence  said  the  Great  Teacher,  'He  that  does  evil 
hates  light;'  and  men  'come  not  to  the  light,  lest  their  deeds 
should  be  reproved'  or  made  manifest."^ 

Again  he  says: 

"Christianity,  like  its  founder,  never  loved  darkness.  It  never 
shunned  light."^ 

"Light  thou  our  candle  while  \ve  read, 
And  keep  our  hearts  from  going  blind."' 

In  proof  of  this  historical  facf  mentioned,  :\Ir.  Camp- 
bell says: 

1  Add.,  p.  571.   2  Evid.,  p.  433.   3  Henry  Van  Dyke. 

—126— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


"From  the  era  of  Protestantism  till  now,  Protestants,  in 
the  ratio  of  their  Protestant  sincerity,  or  true  Protestantism, 
have  been  active,  zealous  and  forward  in  the  great  work  of 
translating  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures  into  the  vulgar 
tongues.  The  Roman  Catholic  has  been  equally  distinguished 
for  her  opposition  to  popular  versions,  or  to  translations  made 
in  the  language  of  the  common  people.  So  have  those  Prot- 
estants that  have  borrowed  freely  from  Papal  Rome."^ 

As  he  was  agitating  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible  a 
brother  Baptist  handed  him  a  tract  stating  ten  reasons 
why  the  authorized  version  should  not  be  revised.  Of 
this  he  comments  as  follows : 

"I  opened  it  with  much  interest.  To  its  title  page  my 
attention  was  instantly  turned,  and  fixed  upon  its  remark- 
able motto — 'The  Old- Fashioned  Bible.'  While  ponder- 
ing upon  the  author's  design  in  this  strange  motto,  I 
hastily  turned  to  its  last  page,  and  again  read, — 

"'The  old-fashioned  Bible,  the  dear,  blessed  Bible, 
The  family  Bible,  that  lay  on  the  stand.' 

"  'Is  this,'  said  I  to  myself,  'an  ad  captandum  vulgus,  a  lure 
for  the  unwary  reader,  or  the  great  argument  for  the  inviola- 
bility and  immortality  of  King  James'  version?'  I  dared  not, 
till  I  had  read  it  through,  answer  the  first  inquiry.  I  had  no 
sooner  glanced  through  the  ten  arguments  than  my  eyes  were 
opened.  The  spirit  of  the  motto  is  the  soul  of  its  ten  argu- 
ments. Its  body  or  substance  is,  'The  purpose'  to  have  and  to 
introduce  a  new  version  'is  fraught  with  injury'  and  ruin  to 
the  Baptists.  Alas,  for  the  feeble  Baptists  if  a  new  version 
*is  fraught  with  injury'  and  ruin  to  the  denomination!  But, 
combining  his  logic  and  rhetoric  in  two  lines,  he  finds  their 
salvation  in 
1  Add.,  p.  571. 

—127— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


'"The  old-fashioned  Bible,  the  dear  blessed  Bible, 
The  family  Bible,  that  lay  on  the  stand.' 

"After  a  moment's  reflection,  it  occurred  to  me  that  not  only 
the  motto,  but  the  whole  ten  arguments,  in  their  soul,  body  and 
spirit,  were  as  good  against  a  new  version  in  the  days  of  Tindal 
as  now,  and  will  be  as  good,  as  sound,  as  conclusive,  against 
a  new  version,  against  every  change  which  has  been,  is  now 
or  will  hereafter  be  proposed,  through  all  coming  time. 

"From  the  printing  of  Tindal's  version  till  that  of  James' 
version,  there  was  a  copy  of  the  Bible  in  many  Christian  fami- 
lies, and  some  of  them  lay  on  the  stand.  Now,  on  the  first 
motion  in  the  fatherland,  to  have  an  improved  version,  had 
the  author  of  the  'Ten  Reasons'  have  been  living  and  con- 
sulted, he  would  have  raised  the  tune  of  the  'old-fashioned 
Bible  that  lay  on  the  stand,'  and  for  this  good  and  sound  rea- 
son— that  good  sense  and  good  logic  are  immutably  the  same, 
yesterday,  today  and  tomorrow.  Ii  an  old-fashioned  Bible  lying 
one  year,  or  one  century,  on  a  stand,  be  a  sound  and  satis- 
factory argument  against  a  new  version  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, it  will  forever  be  an  invincible  argument  against  any 
correction,  emendation  or  change  whatever. 

''The  ten  reasons  given  in  this  pamphlet  of  six-and-thirty 
pages,  arithmetically  enumerated  and  logically  arranged,  are  a 
mere  dilution  or  expansion  of  this  one  popular  ana  prolific 
syllogism. 

"It  is  again  presented  in  the  following  words: 
"The  mere  purpose  to  have  a  new  version  is  'fraught  with 
injury  to  the  denomination,'  'destructive  of  brotherly  love  and 
harmony,'  'suicidal  to  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,' 
'and  utterly  uncalled  for  by  any  consideration  of  principles  or 
of  duty.'  These  are  the  four  cardinal  points  to  which  are 
respectively  directed  the  ten  reasons. 

"The  ten  reasons  are,  indeed,  essentially^  one  and  all,  polit- 
ical or  denominational.    The  glory,  honor,  and  integrity  of  the 

—123— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Baptist  denomination,  it  would  appear,  are  much  more,  in  the 
eye  and  heart  of  their  author,  than  the  importance  or  value 
of  a  pure  and  faithful,  a  clear  and  intelligible,  translation  of 
the  oracles  of  God.  This  I  hope  is  not  so.  But  he  writes 
and  reasons  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it  appear  so,  and  thus 
injures  his  own  reputation  much  more  than  he  can  impede  the 
glorious  enterprise.  For  this  cannot  fail,  Heaven  being  as- 
suredly on  its  side."^ 

This  is  a  very  interesting  piece  of  history.  It  gives 
us  some  valuable  logic.  Mr.  Campbell's  own  progressive 
spirit  stands  revealed  upon  the  background  of  his  times. 
It  becomes  wonderfully  revealing  since  we  stand  on  the 
other  side  of  its  fulfillment. 

Here  we  find  him  again  turning  his  back  upon  the 
findings  of  the  authoritative  past  and  linking  himself 
to  this  "glorious  enterprise"  of  giving  to  the  world  a 
new  translation  of  the  Scriptures.  For  some  years  this 
becomes  the  burden  of  his  thought  and  receives  his  never- 
ceasing  agitation.  In  this  effort  he  stands  foremost 
among  the  Biblical  critics,  who,  unwilling  to  take  the 
Bible  as  it  was  laying  on  the  stand,  would  question  its 
authority,  take  it  from  the  stand,  give  it  a  free,  unbiased 
self-examination,  take  oflf  the  old  dress  of  translation, 
and  give  it  to  the  world  in  a  new  dress.  In  this  task 
there  is  the  recognition  of  the  abiding  over  the  occa- 
sional. It  would  destroy  the  old  form  which  was  time- 
worn  and  had  fulfilled  its  mission  and  reconstruct  a  new 
form  that  one  might  have  better  access  to  the  old,  that 
was  constant  and  assuring. 

1  Add.,  p.  631f. 

(9)  —129— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


No  one  has  given  this  controlling  idea  of  Mr.  Camp- 
bell's clearer  expression  in  a  few  words  than  Prof. 
Charles  Foster  Kent:  ^"The  student  of  history  at  once 
recognizes  in  the  modern  movement,  of  which  the  watch- 
word is,  'Back  to  the  testimony  of  the  Bible/  the  direct 
sequel  to  the  Protestant  Reformation.  The  early  reform- 
ers took  the  chains  off  the  Bible  and  put  it  into  the  hands 
of  men,  with  full  permission  to  study  and  search.  Vested 
interests  and  dogmatism  soon  began  to  dictate  how  it 
should  be  studied  and  interpreted,  and  thus  it  was  again 
placed  practically  under  lock  and  key.  It  is  an  interest- 
ing fact  that  a  young  Zulu  chief,  a  pupil  of  Bishop  Co- 
lenso  of  South  Africa,  first  aroused  the  Anglo-Saxon 
world  to  the  careful,  fearless,  and  therefore  truly  rever- 
ential study  of  its  Old  Testament.  With  this  new  im- 
petus, the  task  of  the  Reformers  was  again  taken  up, 
and  in  the  same  open,  earnest  spirit.  For  two  genera- 
tions it  has  commanded  the  consecrated  energies  of  the 
most  thorough  scholars  of  Christendom.  Those  of  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  Ireland,  France,  Germany,  Austria,  Swit- 
zerland, Norway,  Sweden,  America  and  Canada  have 
worked  shoulder  to  shoulder  dividing  the  work,  carefully 
collecting  and  classifying  the  minutest  data,  comparing 
results,  and,  on  the  basis  of  all  this  work,  formulating 
conclusions,  some  assured  and  some  hypothetical,  which 
best  explain  the  facts.  The  church  is  undoubtedly 
passing  quietly  through  a  revolution  in  its  conception 
and  attitude  toward  the  Bible  more  fundamental  and 

1  The  Origin  and  Value  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  15f . 

—130— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


far-reaching  than  that  represented  by  its  precursor,  the 
Protestant  Reformation;  but  its  real  significance  is  daily 
becoming  more  apparent.  Not  a  grain  of  truth  which 
the  Bible  contains  has  been  destroyed  or  permanently 
obscured.  Instead,  the  debris  of  time-honored  traditions 
and  dogmas  have  been  cleared  away,  and  the  true  Scrip- 
tures at  last  stand  forth  again  in  their  pristine  splendor." 

This  was  written  in  1906.  Mr.  Campbell's  prophetic 
spirit,  almost  one  hundred  years  ago,  believed  that  heaven 
was  on  the  side  of  liberty  and  progress,  and  threw  him* 
self  into  this  movement  of  scholarly  criticism  which  has 
made  possible  our  present  condition  of  faith  and  knowl- 
edge. Not  destroying  the  Bible,  but  saving  the  Bible  by 
destroying  the  false  traditions  gathering  about  it.  There 
is  so  much  that  is  common  to  Alexander  Campbell  and 
the  great  German  iVlbrecht  Ritschl  that  one  feels  like 
constantly  noting  parallels.  What  Prof.  Swing  says  of 
Ritschl's  methods  is  so  obvious  of  Islv.  Campbell's.  He 
is  contrasting  the  purely  sentimental  method  of  treating 
truth  which  is  so  extensive  in  many  quarters  with 
Ritschl's  scientific  method.  He  says :  ^  "He  does  not  de- 
nounce; by  a  scientific  method  he  analyzes,  and  truth 
and  error  appear.  If  he  would  advance  a  truth  he  does 
not  ransack  the  literary  scrap  book  for  fine  phrases;  but 
by  his  scientific  principle  he  is  able  to  discover  and  point 
out  true  values.  Even  if  this  scientific  principle  should 
not  prove  to  be  the  ultimate  one,  it  is  still  his  great  ex- 
cellence that  he  at  least  had  such  a  principle  which  he 

1  The  Theology  of  Albrecht  Ritschl,  p.  33. 

—131— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 

continually  used  to  build  up  as  well  as  pull  down." 

In  Mr.  Campbell's  plea  for  a  restored  Bible  he  occu- 
pied a  foremost  place  among  the  great  leaders  of  Bib- 
lical criticism.  Dr.  Errett  Gates,  of  Chicago  University, 
says:^  "The  modern  science  of  'Biblical  theology,' 
of  which  Alexander  Campbell  was,  in  some  respects,  a 
forerunner,  and  of  which  Weiss,  Beyschlag  and  Stevens 
are  the  great  representatives,  avows  its  one  purpose  to 
be  the  discovery  of  the  original  meaning  of  biblical  writ- 
ings." 

In  the  next  chapter  we  will  learn  from  his  own  words 
his  attitude  toward  Biblical  criticism.  This  shall  prepare 
us  for  an  understanding  of  how  he  would  give  to  the 
world  a  restored  Bible. 

1  Ch.  Cent.,  Dec.  13,1906. 


—132— 


CHAPTER  n. 
Criticism. 


Afraid  of  the  higher  criticism?  Is  the  slave  afraid  of  Lin- 
coln who  comes  to  set  him  free?  Afraid  of  investigation?  Is 
David  afraid  of  Samuel  when  he  comes  to  anoint  him  King? 
Afraid  of  more  light?  Is  the  plant,  half  out  of  the  seed,  afraid 
of  the  sun  that  comes  to  free  it  from  its  cerements  of  clay, 
and  lift  it  up,  singing,  into  blossom  and  into  a  full-grown  tree? 
Afraid  of  the  scholar?  Is  the  maiden  afraid  of  her  beloved 
when  he  comes  with  ring  and  orange-blossoms  to  claim  his 
bride?  Afraid  of  the  fires  of  testing?  Is  the  silver  afraid  of 
the  smelter?  Is  the  diamond  afraid  of  the  lapidary  who  comes 
to  find  it  with  gold  on  the  hand  of  love?  *  *  *  "Truth, 
like  diamonds,  is  brighter  for  polishing."  Bread  is  better  for 
kneading.  Jesus  on  the  cross  was  exalted.  The  Bible  is  en- 
throned by  criticism.  Already  dawns  the  time  of  its  new  cor- 
onation. *  *  *  No  man  can  be  a  scholar  unless  he  knows  it. 
The  poets  tip  their  fancies  with  its  beauty,  and  orators  crown 
their  oration  with  its  golden  words.  The  people  have  never 
ceased  to  love  it,  and  now  they  are  going  to  know  it.  The 
solace  of  the  aged,  the  hope  of  the  disconsolate,  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  living,  the  comfort  of  the  dying,  it  has  been  and 
inceasingly  will  be  for  the  children  of  men  'The  Word  of  God.' 
And  our  children's  children,  loving  it  as  much  as  their  fathers, 
but  knowing  it  better,  will  say  when  they  are  old,  out  of  a  long 
and  sweet  experience,  like  one  of  old : 

"Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet, 
And  a  light  unto  my  path." 

— N.  McGeq  Waters,  in  "A  Young  Mail's  Religion  and  His 
Father's  Faith." 


—134— 


CHAPTER  II. 


CRITICISM. 

It  is  as  scholar  and  critic  that  IMr.  Campbell  was  most 
bitterly  opposed  by  his  own  times.  And  as  such  he  is 
most  venerated  to-day.  In  his  environment  he  was  far 
beyond  his  age.  ''^Ir.  Campbell  was  the  vender  of  the 
world's  best  learning.  Herein  lies  another  secret  of  the 
conflict.  Mr.  Campbell  brought  the  best  Old  World 
scholarship  into  the  backwoods  of  America.  He  easily 
outstripped  all  his  competitors  in  his  facility  in  mar- 
shaling on  his  side  the  great  authorities  of  the  world's 
history.  He  had  no  equal  in  debate  or  popular  expo- 
sition. This  brilliancy  brought  him  an  ardent  personal 
following.  It  also  won  him  bitter  enemies.  There  was 
between  him  and  his  opponents  the  chasm  of  two  worlds' 
cultures.  It  was  inevitable  that  strife  and  division  should 
ensue."^ 

'Mr.  Campbell  himself,  in  the  preface  of  his  new  trans- 
lation of  the  Testament,  says : 

"We  have  followed  to  the  utmost  of  our  ability  and  candor 
the  rules  of  criticism  and  interpretation  laid  down  by  the  mas- 
ters of  criticism  and  the  most  distinguished  translators.    *    *  * 
"Our  qualifications  for  such  a  work  are,  that  we  have  their 
labors  before  us — an  acquaintance  and  correspondence  with  men 
1  The  Rise  of  the  Current  Reformation  (Van  Kirk) ,  p.  129. 

—135— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


of  reputation — a  small  degree  of  mental  independence — a  little 
:ommon  sense — and  some  veneration  for  the  oracles  of  God. 
We  stand  on  the  shoulders  of  giants,  and,  though  of  less  stat- 
ure, we  can  see  as  far  as  they;  or,  like  the  wren  on  the  back 
of  the  eagle,  we  have  as  large  a  horizon  as  the  eagle  which 
has  carried  us  above  the  clouds."^ 

Again  he  says : 

"In  the  department  of  notes  critical  and  explanatory,  we 
have  not,  in  any  instance  known  to  us,  departed  from  the  can- 
ons of  criticism.  *  *  *  If,  in  any  point,  we  have  given  a 
different  result  from  some  of  them,  we  always  wrought  by  their 
own  canons  of  criticism.  We  have  neither  made  nor  adopted 
any  by-laws,  or  rules  of  interpretation,  unsanctioned  and  un- 
approved by  the  constitution  of  the  commonwealth  of  letters."' 

Appeal  to  the  ablest  critical  scholarship  characterized 
all  his  labors.  He  acquaints  us  with  the  sensible  stand 
which  he  took  as  a  critic  in  these  words : 

''We  have  learned  one  lesson  of  great  importance  in  the 
pursuit  of  truth;  one  that  acts  as  a  pioneer  to  prepare  the  way 
of  knowledge — one  that  cannot  be  adopted  and  acted  upon  but 
the  result  must  be  salutary.  It  is  this:  Never  to  hold  any  sen- 
timent or  proposition  as  more  certain  than  the  evidence  on 
which  it  rests ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  our  assent  to  any  prop- 
osition should  be  precisely  proportioned  to  the  evidence  on 
which  it  rests.  All  beyond  this  we  esteem  enthusiasm — all  short 
of  it,  incredulity."  (He  then  quotes  Dr.  George  Campbell  as 
perfectly  expressing  the  sentiments  of  himself.)  "If  to  make 
proselytes  by  the  sword  is  tyranny  in  rulers,  to  resign  our 
understanding  to  any  man,  and  receive  implicitly  what  wc  ought 
to  be  rationally  convinced  of,  would  be,  on  our  part,  the  lowest 
servility.    Everj-thing,  therefore,  here  is  subjected  to  the  test 

1  Uv.  Ora.,  p.  71.    2  Ibid.,  p.  7». 

—136— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


of  scripture  and  sound  criticism.  I  am  not  very  confident  of 
my  own  reasonings.  I  am  sensible  that,  on  many  points,  I  have 
changed  my  opinion,  and  found  reason  to  correct  what  I  had 
judged  formerly  to  be  right.  The  consciousness  of  former  mis- 
takes proves  a  guard  to  preserve  me  from  such  a  presumptuous 
confidence  in  my  present  judgment,  as  would  preclude  my  giv- 
ing a  patient  hearing  to  whatever  may  be  urged,  from  reason 
or  scripture,  in  opposition  to  it.  Truth  has  been  in  all  my 
inquiries,  and  still  is  my  great  aim.  To  her  I  am  ready  to 
sacrifice  every  personal  consideration;  but  am  determined  not, 
knowingly,  to  sacrifice  her  to  anything."^ 

It  is  with  a  feeling  of  genuine  pride  that  the  disciples 
of  Christ  can  say  that  the  fathers  of  their  movement  were 
not  given  to  the  emotion  of  the  hour,  or  to  extremes  of 
any  sort,  but  always  sought  to  arrive  at  their  positions 
rationally  and  reverently  making  appeal  to  the  ablest  and 
sanest  critical  scholarship  of  their  time. 

Since  Mr.  Campbell  was  a  critic,  because  so  much  mis- 
understanding arose  over  his  apparent  destructive  criti- 
cisms upon  the  Bible,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  even 
to-day  not  a  few  grow  alarmed  at  the  word  critic,  it  seems 
necessary  to  ask:  What  is  Biblical  Criticism f 

Professor  Marvin  R.  Vincent,^  in  "That  Monster,  the 
Higher  Critic,"  illustrates  the  attitude  of  the  unenlight- 
ened and  uninitiated  toward  Biblical  criticism  by  the 
"story  of  a  wag  who  laid  a  wager  that  he  would  break 
up  a  country  menagerie  and  circus.  Accordingly,  when 
the  rustic  crowd  had  duly  inspected  the  elephant  and  the 

1  C.  B.,  p.  3.  2  The  Front  l,ine  of  the  Sunda}'  School  Movement  (Peloubet), 
p.  200. 

—137— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


hyenas,  and  were  seated  round  the  arena  eagerly  await- 
ing the  entrance  of  the  clown  and  the  bareback  rider, 
he  rushed  into  the  ring,  waving  his  hat,  and  shouting: 
Xadies  and  gentlemen,  save  yourselves.  The  Gyascutiis 
has  broke  loose!' 

"Dire  was  the  panic  that  followed;  numerous  the 
bruises  and  scratches ;  appalling  the  damage  to  bonnets 
and  draperies ;  but  the  tent  was  emptied  at  last,  and  the 
farmers  and  their  wives  and  daughters  were  jogging 
homeward  and  congratulating  each  other  on  their  escape, 
when  it  occurred  to  some  of  them  to  ask,  "What  is  a 
g}-ascutus,  anyway?"  (A  gyascutus  is  either  a  beetle 
about  an  inch  long,  or  an  imaginary  animal.) 

"Upon  the  settled  faith  and  tranquil  content  of  a  large 
body  of  Christians  breaks  the  cry,  'the  higher  criticism 
has  broken  loose!' 

"Meanwhile  few  stop  to  ask,  'What  is  higher  criticism, 
anyway?'  The  majority  run;  that  is,  they  evade  the 
question  with  some  such  irrelevant  platitude  as  'The  Old 
Bible  is  good  enough  for  me/  " 

One  might  with  equal  propriety  in  the  face  of  the 
modern  express  raise  the  cry,  "The  old  stage  coach  is 
good  enough  for  me.  Likewise  of  all  the  modern  inven- 
tions which  have  come  to  further  perfect  life.  It  is  but 
the  savage  cry  that  would  stay  with  the  old  and  customary 
rather  than  enter  into  a  more  perfect  civilization.  The 
raisers  of  such  cries  always  prate  about  the  new  coming 
to  take  away  their  religion;  whereas  only  the  false  con- 
ceptions about  their  religion  are  being  destroyed. 
—138— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 

"A  worn-out  Dogma  died;  around  its  bed 
Its  votaries  wept  as  if  all  Truth  were  dead; 
But  heaven-born  Truth  is  an  immortal  thing." 

Such  people  find  their  prototype  in  those  "Jerusalem 
Wailers,"  who  congregate  at  the  city  wall  and  frantically 
beat  the  air,  weeping  and  wailing  for  the  lost  glory  of 
their  people.  With  their  faces  toward  the  departed  past 
and  their  hearts  in  it,  they  lose  all  the  significance  of  the 
present  as  well  as  defeat  all  future  glory. 

It  is  simply  the  old  cry  that  ever  comes  upon  the  en- 
trance of  new  light  or  discovery.  It  is  Cremonini  avow- 
ing that  he  would  never  look  through  the  telescope  again 
because  it  refuted  Aristotle.  It  is  Luther  and  Melanc- 
thon  crying  out  against  the  Copernican  theory  of  the 
mobility  of  the  earth.  With  all  their  progressiveness  in 
things  religious  and  moral  they  were  still  so  unscientific 
as  to  lose  sight  of  the  true  world  order  upon  which  their 
findings  might  stand  secure. 

Hear  Luther  upon  astronomy :  "People  gave  ear  to  an 
upstart  astrologer  who  strove  to  show  that  the  earth  re- 
volved, not  the  heavens  or  the  firmament,  the  sun  and  the 
moon.  This  fool  wishes  to  reverse  the  entire  science  of 
astronomy,  but  sacred  Scripture  tells  us  that  Joshua  com- 
manded the  sun  to  stand  still  and  not  the  earth."^ 

Melancthon,  who  was  even  more  scholarly  than  Luther, 
said:  "The  eyes  are  the  witnesses  that  the  heavens  re- 
volve in  the  space  of  twenty-four  hours.  But  certain 
men,  either  from  the  love  of  novelty  or  to  make  a  dis- 

1  The  Finality  of  the  Christian  Religion  (Foster) ,  p=  162. 

—139— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


play  of  ingenuity,  have  concluded  that  the  earth  moves; 
and  they  maintain  that  neither  the  eighth  sphere  nor  the 
sun  revolves.  Now  it  is  want  of  honesty  and  decency 
to  assert  such  notions  publicly,  and  the  example  is  per- 
nicious. It  is  the  part  of  a  good  mind  to  accept  the  truth 
as  revealed  by  God  and  to  acquiesce  in  it.  The  earth 
can  be  nowhere  except  in  the  center  of  the  universe."^ 

These  reformers  understood  religion,  but  were  un- 
versed in  science.  One  old  gentleman  said,  within  the 
past  year,  that  he  knew  the  world  was  not  round  because 
if  so  the  township  sections  would  not  come  out  even. 
Another  said  it  was  flat  because  the  Bible  spoke  of  the 
four  corners  of  the  earth.  Mr.  Campbell  speaks  of  *'The 
old  woman  who  would  not  believe  in  the  revolutions  of 
our  planet  because  she  never  yet  saw  her  garden  turn 
around  to  the  front  of  her  house. 

Nevertheless,  the  Copernican  theory  has  become  estab- 
lished in  the  world's  system  of  thinking;  likewise  geol- 
ogy, evolution,  and  historical  criticism.  While  we  still 
have  the  Bible,  and  a  better  Bible,  upon  a  firmer  basis  for 
intelligent  thought  than  at  any  previous  time.  Higher 
criticism  (so  called)  has  come  in  an  opportune  time  not 
to  destroy  the  Bible,  but  to  correct  our  false  views  and 
notions  about  the  Bible,  that  we  may  adjust  its  contents 
to  our  knowledge  of  the  universe,  and  learn  to  appreciate 
more  truly  God's  self-revelation.  **The  Bible  is  what  the 
Bible  means,  and  not  what  inaccurate  translations  and 
interpretations  make  it  seem  to  mean.   The  Bible  is  what 

1  The  Finality  of  the  Christian  Religion,  p.  163.     2  Evidences,  p.  203. 
—140— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


the  Bible  really  is,  and  not  what  men  pledged  to  a  pre- 
conception have  tried  to  force  it  to  be."^ 

In  the  spirit  of  Mr.  Campbell,  who  feared  not  that 
truth  would  be  lost  in  investigation,  in  imitation  of  him 
we  would  consult  the  ablest  scholars  and  know  what  crit- 
icism is  before  we  seek  to  condemn  it. 

Mathew  Arnold  gives  this  brief  clear-cut  general  defini- 
tion of  criticism:  "A  disinterested  endeavor  to  learn 
and  propagate  the  best  that  is  known  and  thought  in  the 
world."' 

President  King  says :  "Positively  higher  criticism  may 
be  defined  as  a  careful  historical  and  literary  study  of  a 
book  to  determine  its  unity,  age,  authorship,  literary 
form,  and  reliability."^ 

Again  he  says:  "The  only  wise  policy  for  the  Chris- 
tian church  is  the  frankest  and  fullest  facing  of  the  facts, 
without  timidity  and  without  prejudice.  The  great 
body  of  the  church  are  able  to  shut  their  eyes  to  these 
difficulties,  simply  because  they  have  always  read  their 
Bibles  so  in  bits  that  they  really  do  not  know  the  phe- 
nomena which  it  contains.  For  the  real  student  of  the 
Bible,  criticism  is  a  help,  not  a  hindrance  to  his  faith. 

In  an  extended  definition  President  Harper  wrote :  "Do 
you  ask  what  criticism  is  in  its  technical  sense  ?  I  answer 
in  a  single  word,  'inquiry'.  The  whole  business  of  the 
critic  is  to  make  inquiry.  The  literary  critic  inquires  as 
to  the  authorship,  the  authenticity,  the  style  and  the 

1  The  English  Reformation  and  Puritanism  (Hulbert),  p.  444.  ^  Essays  in 
Criticism,  p.  29.  3  Reconstructions  in  Theology  (King),  p.  112.  4  Ibid., 
p.  14f. 

—141-^ 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


character  of  a  particular  writing.  The  historical  critic 
makes  inquiry  as  to  the  date  and  details  of  an  historical 
event,  and  its  relations  to  other  events  which  occurred 
before  and  after.  It  is  difficult,  however,  to  separate 
literary  and  historical  criticism.  History  and  literature 
have  always  been  and  are  inseparable.  Shall  we  then 
find  a  single  word  to  describe  the  process  of  inquiry 
which  includes  both  the  literary  and  the  historical  ?  It  is 
the  word  'higher'  as  distinguished  from  'lower,'  the  latter 
being  a  word  applicable  to  inquiry  v/hich  relates  only 
to  the  text.'" 

Dr.  Strong  in  his  "New  Era"  wisely  puts  the  situation 
as  follows:  "The  application  of  the  scientific  method  to 
history  has  dissipated  into  myth  or  legend  much  that 
our  fathers  held  as  substantial  reality.  Furthermore,  it 
has  been  a  mischievous  mistake  on  the  part  of  many 
Christians  to  build  their  faith  not  solely  on  Christ,  the 
Rock  of  Ages,  but  partly  and  largely  on  the  shifting 
sands  of  human  theories;  and  as  the  progress  of  knowl- 
edge has  destroyed  these  human  foundation  the  faith  of 
many  has  perished  wath  them.  Not  a  few  are  saying 
to-day  that  if  they  are  compelled  to  surrender  their  belief 
in  the  inerrancy  of  Scripture,  their  faith  in  Christianity 
will  have  to  go  with  it.  That  would  be  a  sacrifice  as 
gratuitous  as  sad.  Nothing  can  shake  my  confidence  in 
Christianity  which  does  not  shake  my  confidence  in  the 
genuineness  of  the  life  and  character  of  Christ,  for  he  is 
the  only  true  foundation  of  the  Christian  faith.    It  has 

1  Higher  Criticism  (Garrison),  p.  3. 

—142— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


been  said  that  Romanism  is  the  religion  of  a  church,  and 
that  Protestatism  is  the  rehgion  of  a  book.  Both  church 
and  Bible  are  necessary,  but  all  true  Christianity,  whether 
Protestant  or  Roman  Catholic,  is  the  religion  of  a  person, 
centered  in  Christ,  and  drawing  its  life  and  power  from 
Him."^ 

Dr.  Frederic  W.  Farrar,  of  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge, makes  some  important  and  weighty  remarks  in 
his  History  of  Interpretation :  "Something  more  is  need- 
ful than  that  we  learn  to  despise  the  wrangling  pettiness 
of  party  spirit,  the  spurious  and  dishonest  criticism  of 
party,  journalism,  and  the  idle  reiteration  of  party  shib- 
boleths. We  shall  never  rightly  understand  the  Holy 
Scriptures  unless  we  keep  alive  among  us  the  Spirit  of 
Freedom  and  the  Spirit  of  Progress.  It  is  necessary 
that  we  read  the  handwriting  of  God  written  upon  the 
palace  walls  of  all  tyrannies,  whether  sacred  or  secular. 
It  is  necessary  to  learn  that  'there  is  nothing  so  danger- 
ous, because  there  is  nothing  so  revolutionary  and  con- 
vulsive, as  the  strain  to  keep  things  fixed,  when  all  the 
world  is  by  the  very  law  of  its  creation  in  eternal  prog- 
ress.' It  is  necessary  that  we  should  read  in  God's  book 
of  history  that  'the  cause  of  all  the  evil  in  the  world  may 
be  traced  to  that  deadly  error  of  human  indolence  and 
corruption,  that  it  is  our  duty  to  preserve,  and  not  to 
improve.'  It  is  above  all  essential  that  we  should  see 
the  hand  of  God  in  current  events,  and  understand  the 
thoughts  which  He  is  expressing  by  the  movements  in 

1  Higher  Criticism,  p.  29f. 

—143— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


the  midst  of  which  we  Hve.  Since  the  davs  of  the  Fathers 
arid  the  schoolmen  every  sphere  of  knowledge  has  been 
almost  immeasurably  dilated,  and  many  conceptions  re- 
garded as  irrefragable  have  been  utterly  revolutionized. 
Again  and  again  have  God's  other  revelations  flashed 
upon  the  sacred  page  a  light  which  has  convicted  its  most 
positive  interpreters  of  fundamental  errors.  Amid  this 
outburst  of  new  and  varied  knowledge  which  has  en- 
larged in  so  many  directions  our  comprehension  of  God's 
dealing  with  our  race,  it  would  be  disheartening,  indeed, 
and  it  would  be  a  contradiction  to  the  whole  course  of 
history,  if  we  had  made  no  advance  in  our  knowledge  of 
interpreting  Scripture.  It  would  have  been  shameful  if 
we  had  remained  content  with  the  exegesis  of  the  Rabbis, 
who  were  children  of  an  imperfect  and  abrogated  dispen- 
sation, or  the  Fathers  who  'lived  among  the  fallen  leaves 
of  the  old  world,'  or  the  schoolmen  in  the  ages  of  an 
all  but  universal  ignorance.  It  was  inevitable,  nay,  it 
was  most  necessary,  nay,  more,  the  sacredness  of  truth — 
v^'hich  'is  as  impossible  to  be  soiled  by  any  outward  touch 
as  the  sunbeam' — made  it  imperative  that  new  principles 
of  inquiry  and  modern  methods  of  criticism  should  be 
extended  to  those  records  of  revelation  in  which  it  was 
certain  that  nothing  could  suffer  which  was  intrinsically 
truthful  or  divine.  The  real  question  to  ask  about  any 
form  of  rehgious  belief  is:  Does  it  kindle  the  fire  of 
love?  Does  it  make  the  life  stronger,  sweeter,  purer, 
nobler?  Does  it  run  through  the  whole  society  like  a 
cleansing  flame,  burning  up  that  which  is  mean  and  base 

—144— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


and  selfish  and  impure?  If  it  stands  that  test  it  is  no 
heresy.  Where  the  spirit  of  God  is  there  is  hberty.  All 
these  questions  have  been  under  discussion  for  many 
years;  yet  to  multitudes  of  those  who  on  these  ques- 
tions have  come  to  decisions  which  are  in  opposition  to 
current  opinions,  the  Bible  is  still  the  divinest  of  all  books 
and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  still  the  Son  of  God,  the 
Savior  of  the  World." 

Willard  Chamberlain  Selleck,  D.  D.,  gives  an  ex- 
cellent treatment  of  the  work  of  criticism.  He  calls  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  the  word  criticism  denotes  to 
pass  judgment  upon  or  to  determine.  It  conveys  the 
idea,  not  of  fault  finding,  but  of  fairly  and  justly  esti- 
mating both  merits  and  defects.  It  is  merely  the  science 
and  art  of  understanding  the  Scriptures.  He  notes  the 
fact  that  the  New  Testament  appears  in  3,829  manu- 
scripts. The  "variants"  amount  to  more  than  150,000. 
These  arose  in  various  ways.  Some  from  slip  of  pen  in 
copying ;  some  by  mixing  with  marginal  notes ;  some  by 
dimming  of  words,  etc.  Now  the  'Xower  Criticism" 
concerns  itself  in  determining  what  the  Biblical  writers 
really  wrote.  It  consists  of  discovering,  examining,  and 
appraising  the  various  manuscripts,  and  results  in  a  cor- 
rected text.  The  "Higher  Criticism"  confines  itself  to 
the  inner  substance  of  Scripture,  dealing  with  the  literary 
features;  judging  character,  origin,  and  the  relation  of 
the  books.  It  studies  style,  structure  and  thought.  It 
seeks  to  determine  author  and  date.    It  aims  to  under- 


1  The  New  Appreciation  of  the  Bible,  p.  70f. 
(10)  —145— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


stand  time  and  circumstances.  Says  Mr.  Selleck:  "The 
special  reason  why  such  a  work  is  necessary  lies  in  the 
fact  that  the  Scriptures,  like  other  literary  remains  of 
antiquity,  were  produced  in  an  uncritical  age,  that  is  to 
say,  an  unscientific  age.  Our  age  is  not  satisfied  with 
tradition,  but  wants  verification ;  in  other  words,  it  wants 
knozi'ledge  wherever  possible,  or  adequate  reasons  for  its 
faith."^ 

That  distinguished  scholar.  Prof.  W.  Robertson  Smith, 
writes :  *'The  critical  study  of  ancient  documents  means 
nothing  else  than  a  careful  sifting  of  their  origin  and 
meaning  in  the  light  of  history/'^ 

Prof.  George  T.  Ladd  says :  "By  the  Higher  Criticism 
is  meant  that  study  which  tries  to  reproduce  the  influ- 
ences and  circumstances  out  of  which  the  Biblical  books 
arose,  and  thus  exhibit  them  as  true  children  of  their 
own  time.'" 

Prof.  B.  A.  Hinsdale  upon  the  historical  method  utters 
this  significant  remark:*  "It  has  modified  theories 
of  the  origin  of  the  Scriptures.  It  points  out  the  un- 
mistakable human  elements  in  those  books.  It  shades 
down  the  difference  between  the  Sacred  literature  and 
other  literatures.  It  points  out  parallelisms  of  theme, 
style  and  subject-matter  between  the  Hebrew  and  Greek 
Scriptures  and  other  writings.  It  makes  Christianity  a 
part  of  the  history  of  the  world,  and  not  something 
wholly  foreign  and  extra-human.    Some  Christians  fear 

1  The  New  Appreciation  of  the  Bible,  p.  87.         2  Ibid.,  86,         3  ibid. 
4  Ch.  Quar.  July,  1896,  p.  269 
—146— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


historical  and  critical  inquiries  will  abolish  the  Divine 
Word  altogether.  But  others,  with  better  reason,  believe 
that  the  change  is  from  a  narrow  basis  to  a  broad  one." 

In  view  of  what  criticism  is  upon  these  statements 
from  the  best  authorities,  and  in  face  of  'Mr.  Campbell's 
own  utterance  and  labors,  one  can  readily  see  that  he  is 
both  a  'Lower  Critic  and  a  Higher  Critic.'  Mr.  Camp- 
bell gives  us  his  estimation  of  criticism  in  the  words 
of  the  critic,  Du  Pin,  whom  he  so  extensively  uses  in  his 
debate  on  the  Roman  Catholic  religion.    He  says : 

"Criticism  is  a  kind  of  torch,  that  lights  and  conducts  us, 
in  the  obscure  tracts  of  antiquity,  by  making  us  able  to  dis- 
tinguish truth  from  falsehood,  history  from  fable  and  antiquity 
from  novelty.  'Tis  by  this  means  that  in  our  times  we  have 
disengaged  ourselves  from  an  infinite  number  of  very  com- 
mon errors  into  which  the  fathers  fell  for  want  of  examining 
things  by  the  rules  of  true  criticism.  For  'tis  a  surprising  thing 
to  consider  how  many  spurious  books  we  find  in  antiquity;  nay, 
even  in  the  first  ages  of  the  church.'"- 

Wit-i  these  ideas  in  mind  we  shall  be  better  able  to 
appreciate  I\Ir.  Campbell's  true  place  in  Biblical  Criticism. 
Higher  criticism,  then,  is  not  what  some  have  ingeniously 
surmised  it  to  be,  a  Bible  in  the  place  of  the  Bible.  It  is 
simply  a  method,  a  scientific  way  of  historical  investiga- 
tion. It  is  going  to  the  Bible  in  a  proper  scientific  way 
in  contradistinction  to  going  to  it  wdth  no  method — the 
popular  haphazard  way.  i\Ir.  Campbell  falls  into  line 
with  this  scientific  method  of  investigation  and  becomes 


1  D.on  R.  C.  R.,  p.  118. 


—147— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


one  of  the  most  opposed  American  critics.  We  are  now 
prepared  to  follow  him  understandingly  in  his  labors — 
watch  the  critic  as  he  works.  How  will  he  put  into  effect 
liis  progressive  principles  ?  What  will  he  propose  as  nec- 
essary to  give  us  a  restored  Bible?  If  we  are  apt  in 
learning  we  shall  find  that  he  practically  gives  us  a  new 
Bible.  Or,  more  properly,  the  old  essential  Bible,  lifeless 
under  its  weight  of  tradition,  comes  to  life  in  a  new 
form. 


—148— 


CHAPTER  m. 
New  Versions, 


Slavery  is  that  which  cramps  powers.  The  worst  slavery  is 
that  which  cramps  the  noblest  powers.  Worse,  therefore,  than 
he  who  manacles  the  hands  and  feet  is  he  who  puts  fetters 
on  the  mind,  and  pretends  to  demand  that  men  shall  think, 
and  believe,  and  feel  thus  and  thus,  because  others  so  believed, 
and  thought,  and  felt  before. 

In  Judea  life  had  become  a  set  of  forms,  and  religion  a 
congeries  of  traditions.  One  living  word  from  the  lips  of  Christ, 
and  the  mind  of  the  world  was  free. 

Later,  a  mountain  mass  of  superstition  has  gathered  round 
the  Church,  atom  by  atom,  and  grain  by  grain.  Men  said  that 
the  soul  was  saved  only  by  doing  and  believing  what  the  priest- 
hood taught.  Then  the  heroes  of  the  Reformation  spoke. 
Once  more  the  mind  of  the  world  was  made  free,  and  made 
free  by  truth. 

There  is  a  tendency  in  the  masses  always  to  think — not  what 
is  true,  but — what  is  respectable,  correct,  orthodox :  We  ask, 
is  that  authorized?  It  comes  partly  from  the  uncertainty  and 
darkness  of  all  moral  truths,  and  the  dread  of  timid  minds  to 
plunge  into  the  investigation  of  them.  Now,  truth  known  and 
believed  respecting  God  and  man  frees  from  this,  by  warning 
of  individual  responsibility.  But  responsibility  is  personal.  It 
cannot  be  delegated  to  another,  and  thrown  off  upon  the  church. 
Before  God,  face  to  face,  each  soul  must  stand  to  give  account. 
— Frederick  W.  Robertson  (Sermons,  p.  213). 


—150— 


CHAPTER  III. 


NEW  VERSIONS. 

When  one  considers  Mr.  Campbell  as  a  preacher  in 
his  relation  to  the  common  people  he  sees  in  him  the  pos- 
itive rough-and-ready  Luther  taking  things  as  they  are 
and  making  the  best  of  them,  earnestly  pleading  for  the 
Bible  and  the  Bible  alone,  and  vehemently  calling  all  to 
its  sacred  pages.    In  fact,  Mr.  Campbell  says : 

"We  are  truly  thankful  that  there  is  no  version  so  wholly 
defective  that  an  honest  reader,  learned  or  unlearned,  may  not 
understand  the  great  scheme  of  salvation,  and  believe  and  obey 
it  to  the  salvation  of  his  soul."^ 

But  when  we  turn  to  him  as  a  critic  it  seems  that  we 
have  stepped  out  of  the  Reformation  and  gone  back 
into  the  Renaissance.  Here  we  find  in  him  the  temper  of 
the  scholar  and  are  reminded  of  Erasmus  and  his  friend 
Colet,  who  delivered  their  message  more  in  the  terms  of 
the  school  than  in  the  language  of  the  church. 

When  Luther  came  to  the  Bible  he  was  too  partial  to 
the  old  Catholic  view.  Says  Prof.  Swing :  "But  Luther 
takes  it  for  granted  that  the  'Holy  Scriptures'  and 
Word  of  God  are  interchangeable.'  And  this  view  was 
never  attacked  in  this  period — yet  the  interchangeable- 

1  Add.,  p.  582. 

^151-^ 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


ness  of  the  'Word  of  God'  and  'Holy  Scripture'  is  a 
remnant  of  the  old  Catholic  views  which  are  not  in  ac- 
cord with  Luther's  fundamental  ideas. 

Says  Dean  Hulbert :  ''Erasmus  was  pre-eminently  a 
man  of  letters,  and  not  a  reformer ;  nevertheless,  in  spite 
of  himself,  by  his  literary  labors,  he  did  more  than  any 
living  man  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  Protestant  Revo- 
lution. Erasmus  got  into  his  head  that  to  the  learned 
world  ought  to  be  given  the  Greek  New  Testament  in 
the  book  form.  I  think  the  spirit  of  God  lodged  that 
thought  in  his  mind.  Certain  it  was  no  vain  ambition 
of  the  mere  scholar.  These  are  his  words :  *If  the  ship 
of  the  church  is  to  be  saved  from  being  swallowed  up 
by  the  tempest,  there  is  only  one  anchor  that  can  save  it. 
It  is  the  heavenly  word,  which,  issuing  from  the  bosom 
of  the  Father,  lives,  speaks  and  works  still  in  the  gospel. 
It  is  not  from  human  reservoirs,  fetid  with  stagnant 
waters,  that  we  should  draw  the  doctrine  of  salvation; 
but  from  the  pure  and  abundant  streams  that  flow  from 
the  heart  of  God.  A  spiritual  temple  must  be  raised 
in  desolated  Christendom.  The  mighty  of  the  world  will 
contribute  toward  it  in  their  marble,  their  ivory,  and 
their  gold;  I,  who  am  poor  and  humble,  offer  the  foun- 
dation stone.'  This  foundation  stone  was  "to  re- 
store the  pure  text  of  the  Word  of  God."  This  Erasmus 
accomplished.  *'Then,"  says  Dean  Hulbert,  *'the  oppo- 
sition began.    The  priests  declared :    *If  this  book  be 

1  Out.  of  the  Doct.  Devl't  of  the  West.  Ch.  (Based  on  the  Dogmengeschicte 
of  Friedrich  lyoofs— By  Albert  T.  Swing),  p.  66. 

2  The  English  Reformation  and  Puritanism  (Hulbert),  p.  72f, 

—152— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


tolerated  it  will  be  the  death  of  the  papacy/  They  fully 
understood  that  a  Greek  Testament  to-day  meant  an  Eng- 
lish Testament  to-morrow;  for  Erasmus  himself  had 
said :  'Perhaps  it  may  be  necessary  to  conceal  the  secrets 
of  Kings,  but  we  must  publish  the  mysteries  of  Christ. 
The  Holy  Scriptures,  translated  into  all  languages,  should 
be  read  not  only  by  the  Scotch  and  Irish,  but  even  by 
Turks  and  Saracens.  The  husbandman  should  sing  them 
as  he  holds  the  handle  of  his  plow,  the  weaver  repeat 
them  as  he  plies  his  shuttle,  and  the  wearied  traveler, 
halting  on  his  journey,  refresh  him  under  some  shady 
tree  by  these  godly  narratives.'  The  monks  and  bishops 
scented  the  danger  from  afar,  and  they  raised  a  howl. 
This  book  must  go  or  our  race  is  run.  Let  the  book  live 
and  we  must  die 

This  is  the  atmosphere  that  surrounds  Mr.  Campbell 
as  he  demands  a  restoration  of  the  pure  Word  of  God. 
He  recognizes  the  mighty  influence  of  the  Renaissance  as 
the  cause  of  the  Reformation  in  its  effort  for  a  better 
Bible  when  he  says: 

"A  remarkable  revival  of  literature  preceded  the  Protestant 
Reformation.  That  revival  is  now  regarded  by  every  philosophic 
historian  and  student — indeed,  by  every  reader  who  thinks  pro- 
foundly upon  principles  and  their  tendencies,  who  weighs  the 
remote  and  proximate  causes  of  things,  or  who  fathoms  their 
legitimate  tendencies — I  say  the  revival  of  literature  in  Italy 
and  western  Europe,  which  occurred  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
is  now  regarded  by  every  informed  mind  a«  the  harbinger,  or 

1  The  English  Reformation  and  Puritanism  (Hulbert) ,  p.  74. 

—153— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


cause,  of  the  Protestant  Reformation;  and  that  reformation  may 
be  regarded  as  the  pioneer  and  patron  of  Bible-translations."^ 

He  took  an  urgent  and  positive  position  in  behalf  of 
new  Bible  translations. 

This  responsibility  was  so  considerable  that  its  neglect 
would  be  sin.   He  says : 

"We  must  affirm  the  conviction  that  we  are,  as  Christian 
churches,  bound,  by  the  highest  and  holiest  motives  and  obliga- 
tions, to  use  our  best  endeavors  to  have  the  original  Scriptures 
exactly  and  faithfully,  in  every  particular,  to  the  best  of  our 
knowledge  and  belief,  translated  at  home  and  abroad,  into  the 
vernacular,  be  it  what  it  may,  in  which  we  desire  to  present 
them  to  our  fellow-men.  Anything  short  of  this  is  a  sinful  and 
most  condemnable  negligence  or  indifference.'' ^ 

This  became  with  him  a  life-long  effort  in  which  he 
met  great  opposition.  Opposition  arose  because  of  the 
different  vieirpoints  from  n'hich  he  and  his  opponents 
regarded  the  Bible.  The  latter  regarded  the  Bible  ex- 
clusively divine.  To  them  it  was  all  Word  of  God.  It 
was  perfect,  errorless  in  every  particular,  and  therefore 
authoritative.  Hence  they  would  keep  it  as  it  is,  suffer- 
ing no  change.  It  is  a  sacred  deposit  coming  from  God 
as  it  were  right  down  from  heaven.  Thus  they  clasped 
it  with  a  fearful  reverence.  As  one  man  said,  *'We  must 
read  it  in  the  good  old  English,  the  very  language  that 
Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles  used."  One  reverent  old 
sister  took  the  large  family  Bible  out  from  under  the 
child  at  the  table,  and  having  nothing  else  near  by  that 
could  be  put  in  the  chair  to  raise  the  child  up,  allowed  him 

1  Add.,  p.  578.     2  Add.,  p.  613. 

—154— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


to  eat  his  meal  reaching  up  the  best  he  could.  Not  that 
she  feared  the  child  would  mar  the  book,  but  to  sit  on 
God's  Word  was  irreverent  and  simply  awful. 

This  is  a  relic  of  Catholicism,  or,  rather,  Judaism 
conserved  in  Catholicism.  The  individual  is  lost  sight 
of  in  the  institution.  The  letter  is  exalted  above  the 
spirit.  Attention  riveted  upon  the  channel  of  communica- 
tion fails  to  hear  the  true  voice  of  God. 

Mr.  Campbell,  on  the  contrary,  looked  upon  the  Bible 
as  having  a  human  side  as  well  as  a  divine.  To  him 
its  perfection  lay  not  in  its  verbal  inerrancy  and  infalli- 
bility, but  in  the  glory  of  its  religious  character.  To  him 
the  Bible  was  not  a  book  of  laws  to  be  literally  and 
slavishly  followed,  but  rather  a  book  of  facts  and  princi- 
ples to  be  understood  and  developed.  It  was  a  human 
book  coming  out  of  the  circumstances  of  the  times,  and 
written  by  human  beings.  This  human  recognition  of 
the  Bible  enabled  him  when  regarding  the  letters  of  the 
New  Testament,  to  say: 

"These  documents  growing  out  of  the  actual  conditions  and 
peculiarities  of  these  communities  were  written  for  our  instruc- 
tion and  direction  in  all  the  contingencies  to  which  the  churches 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  may  be  subjected  in  all  varieties  of  condition 
and  circumstances  through  which  they  must  pass  in  this  present 
evil  world.  The  things  that  happened  to  them  were  written  for 
our  edification."^ 

Again  he  says : 

"There  were,  indeed,  but  a  few  facts,  however  diversified  in 
1  Mill.  Har.,  1858,  p.  62. 

—155— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


style  and  manner  of  exhibition,  continually  pressed  upon  the 
attention  and  cordial  reception  of  those  to  whom  the  glad  tid- 
ings were  announced.  These  were  propounded  not  in  identical 
terms  and  phrases,  not  in  stereotyped  formulas  of  speech,  but  in 
all  the  varieties  of  terms  and  phrases  best  adopted  to  the  diver- 
sified education  and  training,  to  the  peculiar  modes  of  thinking 
and  speaking,  of  the  persons  addressed.  Still  the  materials  that 
constitute  the  gospel,  with  their  evidence  and  claims  upon  the 
understanding,  the  conscience  and  the  affections,  were  fully  pre- 
sented in  such  forms  and  imagery  as  were  most  appreciated  by 
the  parties  addressed.""^ 

By  way  of  illustration,  it  will  be  remembered  how  ]\Ir. 
Campbell  gave  emphasis  to  the  human  side  of  conver- 
sion. He  held  that  in  the  soul's  union  with  God  there 
was  a  human  coming  as  well  as  a  divine  drawing.  So 
emphatically  did  he  affirm  this  human  side  of  salvation 
that  manv  of  his  contemporaries  misunderstood  him  and 
most  wilfully  accused  him  of  not  believing  in  regenera- 
lion,  the  divine  side.  He  was  only  calling  attention  to 
the  much  neglected  fact  of  man's  freedom,  that  man  is 
active,  not  passive  in  coming  to  God.  The  fact  is  that 
there  are  two  sides  to  the  great  fact  of  union  with  God, 
the  Divine  drawing  and  the  human  coming.  But  to  recog- 
nize the  human  coming  does  not  destroy  the  divine  grace. 
Xor  does  the  recognition  of  the  divine  grace  destroy  the 
human  activity. 

Xow  it  is  the  same  in  reference  to  the  Bible  There  is 
a  human  element  as  well  as  a  divine.    \V.  Robertson 


1  Add.,  p.  535f. 


—156— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Smith  bears  Mr.  Campbell  out  in  his  recognition  of  the 
human  element  in  the  Bible.  Efe  says :  "We  hear  many 
speak  of  the  human  side  of  the  Bible  as  if  there  was 
something  dangerous  about  it,  as  if  it  ought  to  be  kept 
out  of  sight  lest  it  tempt  us  to  forget  that  the  Bible  is 
the  Word  of  God.  And  there  is  a  widespread  feeling 
that,  though  the  Bible  no  doubt  has  a  human  side,  a  safe 
and  edifying  exegesis  must  confine  itself  to  the  divine 
side.  This  point  of  view  is  a  survival  of  the  mediaeval 
exegesis  which  buried  the  true  sense  of  Scripture. 
The  first  condition  of  a  sound  understanding  of  Scrip- 
ture is  to  give  full  recognition  to  the  human  side.  Nay, 
the  whole  business  of  scholarly  exegesis  lies  with  this 
human  side."^ 

Bishop  Ryle  also  finds  this  recognition  most  benefi- 
cial :  "The  position  of  the  Bible  in  the  Church  of  Christ 
is  strengthened  by  every  honest  endeavor  to  set  forth 
the  human  elements  in  its  growth  and  history.  The  more 
closely  we  discern  the  human  structure,  the  more  readily 
shall  we  recognize  the  presence  and  power  of  the  Divine 
Spirit,  through  whom  alone  it  is  that  the  Bible  is  the 
Word  of  God  to  us."' 

This  recognition  of  the  human  element  in  the  Bible 
made  Mr.  Campbell  fearless  in  his  demand  for  new  ver- 
sions. It  freed  him  from,  that  false  reverence  which  so 
prizes  the  letter  that  it  loses  the  spirit.  The  words  and 
language  for  him  were  but  the  medium  through  which 

1  The  Old  Testament  in  the  Jewish  Church  (Smith),  p.  12f. 

2  The  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament  (Ryle) ,  p.  14. 

—157— 


Alexander  Caiiiphcll  and  Christian  Liberty. 


one  might  have  access  to  the  reahty  of  the  Divine  Ufe. 

This  medium  changed  from  age  to  age  as  enhghten- 
ment  and  progress  demanded.  In  all  his  contentions  he 
was  well  aware  of  the  effect  upon  his  sophisticated  con- 
temporaries.   He  says: 

"Words  and  names  long  consecrated  and  sanctified  by  long 
prescription  have  a  very  imposing  influence  upon  the  human 
understanding."^ 

"Our  zeal  burns  brightest  when  contending  for  orthodox 
tenets,  and  a  sort  of  technical  language  rendered  sacred,  and 
of  imposing  influence  by  long  prescription.'"" 

It  is  both  interesting  and  instructive  to  see  how  he 
was  obliged  to  reason  zi'itJi  the  timid  non-progressive 
minds  in  his  efforts  for  a  new^  translation.  Besides,  it 
throws  a  vast  light  on  conditions  to-day.  He  makes  this 
significant  remark : 

"Some  are  so  wedded  to  the  common  version,  that  the  very 
defects  in  it  have  become  sacred;  and  an  effort,  however  well 
intended,  to  put  them  in  possession  of  one  incomparably  supe- 
rior in  propriety,  perspicuity,  and  elegance,  is  viewed  very 
much  in  the  light  of  making  'a  new  Bible,"  or  of  'altering  and 
amending  the  very  word  of  God.'  Nay,  some  are  prepared  to 
doom  every  attempt  of  the  kind  to  the  anathema  in  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  Apocalypse  upon  those  who  add  to  the  word  of 
God,  or  subtract  from  it."^ 

But  i\Ir.  Campbell  continues  to  reason  with  them  in 
the  words  of  Dr.  Campbell,  whom  he  says  expresses  his 
own  ideas,  and  much  more  happily : 

lC.B.,p.l59.      2  Ibid.,  p.  7.      3  U v.  Or.,  p.  12. 

—158— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


"Many  timid,  yet  well  disposed,  persons  have  been  appre- 
hensive, that  a  new  translation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  might 
tend  to  diminish  the  veneration  of  mankind  for  those  sacred 
oracles,  and  thereby  unsettle  their  faith  in  the  Christian  doc- 
trine. *  *  *  Need  I,  in  so  late  and  enlightened  an  age,  sub- 
join an  apology  for  the  design  itself  of  giving  a  new  transla- 
tion of  any  part  of  Scripture?  Yet  there  are  some  knowing 
and  ingenious  men,  who  seem  to  be  alarmed  at  the  mention  of 
translation,  as  if  such  an  attempt  would  sap  the  very  foundation 
of  the  Christian  edifice,  and  put  the  faith  of  the  people  in  the 
most  imminent  danger  of  being  buried  in  its  ruins.  This  is 
no  new  apprehension."^ 

He  then  notes  the  apprehension  felt  over  Jerome's 
version,  but,  says  he : 

"The  version  was  made  and  published;  and  those  'hideous 
bugbears'  of  fatal  consequences,  which  had  been  so  much  des- 
canted on,  were  no  more  heard  of."^ 

We  are  reminded  that  each  age  has  its  "hideous  bug- 
bears." But,  somehow,  in  God's  good  providence  the 
next  age  generally  forgets  them  and  the  world  moves  on. 
He  then  continues  to  note  the  alarm  felt  over  the  many 
versions  which  followed  the  Reformation.  He  finds  that 
men's  fears  were  not  justified  by  the  effect  which  these 
versions  produced.    For,  says  he: 

"Nothing  will  be  found  to  have  conduced  more  to  subvert 
the  dominion  of  the  metaphysical  theolog>-  of  the  schoolmen, 
with  all  its  interminable  questions,  cobweb  distinctions,  and 
war  of  words,  than  the  critical  study  of  the  sacred  scriptures, 
to  which  the  modern  translations  have  not  a  little  contributed."^ 

Then  he  pays  attention  to  the  objection  raised  against 

1  Uv.  Dr.,  p.  13.      2  Ibid.      3  Ibid. 

—159— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 

the  critical  work  of  new  translations  that  they  tend  to 
unsettle  men  in  their  principles  especially  as  to  the  Bible's 
sacred  authority.  But  he  finds  it  to  act  the  reverse,  for, 

"They  rather  confirm  men's  faith  in  scripture,  as  they  show 
in  the  strongest  light  that  all  the  various  ways  which  men 
of  discordant  sentiments  have  devised  of  rendering  its  words, 
have  made  no  material  alteration,  either  on  the  narrative 
itself  or  on  the  divine  instructions  contained  in  it."^ 

Those  who  demand  one  text  only  may  find  their  grat- 
ification in  the  Koran,  which  has  the  peculiar  merit  over 
the  Bible  of  having  one  stereotyped  text  inspired  and 
fixed  for  all  time !  No  wonder  Carlyle  said,  upon  a  dip 
into  its  rich  contents:  "A  wearisome,  confused  jumble, 
crude,  incondite;  endless  iterations;  long-windedness, 
entanglement;  most  crude  incondite;  unsupportable  stu- 
pidity, in  short !  Nothing  but  a  sense  of  duty  could  carry 
any  European  through  the  Koran.'"^ 

Mr.  Campbell  found  these  objections  were  raised  sim- 
ply because  men  were  trusting  in  the  merits  of  the  Bible 
form  of  language  rather  than  in  the  personal  content. 
The  voice  of  God  was  speaking  in  the  prophets,  and 
especially  in  God's  Son.  So  he  concludes  his  remarks 
\o  the  "feeble-minded"  in  these  words: 

"We  oppose  them  most  who  most  oppose  and  depart  from 
the  simplicity  of  Christ."^ 

He  saw  that  these  new  translations  were  only  the  lan- 
guage expression  of  the  essential  content  of  truth  which 
God  would  speak  to  His  people.  This  reality  would  stand 

1  Liv.  Or.,  p.  14.      2  Religions  of  the  World  (Grant),  32.      3  ibid.,  p.  15. 
—160— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


a  better  chance  of  being  arrived  at  through  several  trans- 
lations than  one,  and  especially  since  that  one  was  very 
imperfect.    So  he  says: 

"The  weak-minded  only  are  afraid  of  new  translatiotxS, 
or,  at  most,  those  who  have  not  touched  upon  the  subject.  I 
think  the  illiterate  have  stronger  faith  who  read  many  trans- 
lations than  the  same  class  have  who  read  but  one.  *  *  * 
Improved  translations  do  not  introduce  any  new  articles  of 
belief;  but  they  have  their  value  and  importance  from  the 
plainness,  force,  beauty,  and  simplicity  in  which  they  present 
the  testimony  of  God  to  the  reader."^ 

He  is  not  blind  to  the  effect  of  such  translations  upon 
the  world  of  literature.  Nor  is  he  one  v^ho  would  allow 
the  "Book  of  Books"  to  become  antiquated  or  not  keep 
pace  with  a  growing  literature.  He  would  not  have  re- 
ligion in  its  conception  and  expression  fall  behind  litera- 
ture, science,  or  the  arts.   He  says : 

"On  comparing  the  literature  and  science  of  the  current  age 
with  those  of  former  times,  we  readily  discover  how  much 
more  we  owe  to  a  more  rigid  analysis  and  a  more  scrupulous 
adoption  of  the  technical  terms  and  phrases  of  the  old  schools, 
to  which  the  whole  world  at  one  time  looked  up  as  the  only 
fountains  of  wisdom  and  learning.  When  submitted  to  the  test 
of  a  more  enlightened  criticism,  many  of  their  most  popular 
and  somewhat  cabalistic  terms  and  phrases  have  been  demon- 
strated to  be  words  without  just  or  appropriate  ideas,  and  have 
been  'nailed  to  the  counter'  as  spurious  coin ;  others,  however, 
like  pure  metal  in  antique  forms,  have  been  sent  to  the  mint, 
recast  and  made  to  receive  the  impress  of  a  more  enlightened 
and  accomplished  age. 

1  c.  B.,  p.  326. 

(11)  —161— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


*'The  rapid  progress  and  advancement  of  modern  science  is, 
I  presume,  owing  to  a  more  rational  and  philosophical  nomen- 
clature and  to  the  more  general  use  of  the  inductive  system  of 
reasoning,  rather  than  to  any  superior  talent  or  more  aspiring 
genius  possessed  either  by  our  contemporaries  or  our  imme- 
diate predecessors. 

"Politics,  morals  and  religion — the  most  deservedly  engross- 
ing themes  of  every  age — are,  in  this  respect,  unfortunately 
behind  the  other  sciences  and  arts  cultivated  at  the  present  day. 
We  are,  however,  pleased  to  see  a  growing  conviction  of  the 
necessity  of  a  more  opposite,  perspicuous  and  philosophical  ver- 
bal apparatus  in  several  departments  of  science,  and  especially 
to  witness  some  recent  efforts  to  introduce  a  more  improved 
terminology  in  the  sciences  of  government,  morality  and  re- 
ligion."^ 

The  new  translations,  with  their  new  terms  and  phrases 
agreeing  with  the  new  conception  of  things,  would  exert 
a  great  influence  in  every  realm.  Ought  the  book  of  God 
to  be  led  by  literature  into  the  new  style  or  ought  it  to 
rise  up  as  a  leader?  says  Mr.  Campbell, 

"The  sacred  Scriptures  are  more  generally  read  than  any 
other  writings,  and  exert  a  greater  influence  on  the  diction  and 
style  of  the  community  and  they  ought,  therefore,  to  be  a  model. 
As  the  original  was  at  least  at  par,  if  not  something  in  advance, 
of  the  age  and  population  in  which  it  appeared,  a  translation 
of  it  ought,  we  think,  always  to  be  in  the  plainest  and  best 
st>'le  of  the  community  for  which  it  is  intended. 

"A  good  style  is  always  a  plain  and  intelligent  style.  What 
IS  sometimes  called  a  learned  is  rather  an  unlearned  style; 
because  true  learning  is  the  art  of  communicating,  as  well  as 
of  receiving,  instruction — and  he  that  speaks  or  writes  not  to 
edification  is  unlearned  in  the  greatest  of  all  arts,  the  art  of 

1  Add.,  p.  343f. 

—162— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


imparting  instruction.  It  has  often  been  observed,  that  it  re- 
quires more  real  learning  to  make  a  plain  and  intelligible  dis- 
course, than  to  make  one  vulgarly  called  learned.  Indeed,  there 
are  not  wanting  some  persons,  in  every  community,  who  appre- 
ciate a  discourse  because  it  transcends  their  comprehension,  and 
regard  him  as  the  greatest  scholar  who  uses  the  most  learned 
and  rare  terms  and  phrases.''^ 

This  need  for  a  new  version  became  with  him  a  grow- 
ing conviction.  With  the  new  conception  of  things  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  antiquated  expressions  in  the  au- 
thorized version,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was  feeling  what 
President  King  notes:"  "If  the  man  of  to-day,  there- 
fore, is  really  alive  to  the  movements  of  his  own  time,  it 
is  simply  impossible  that  he  should  use  most  naturally 
and  easily  the  language  of  the  older  generations  in  ex- 
pressing his  deepest  convictions  on  any  theme." 

One  of  his  objections  to  the  authorized  version  was 
that  it  had  outlived  its  usefulness.  It  was  not  in  fashion, 
Mr.  Campbell  was  one  who  wanted  even  his  truth  rigged 
out  in  the  best  possible  style.  Yet,  after  a  half  century 
and  more  of  such  profound  agitation  and  after  the  new 
has  come,  we  print  the  old  King  James  version  in  our 
Sunday  School  quarterlies,  and  the  superintendent  leads 
the  school  in  reading  it  (because  the  word  "authorized'' 
printed  above  it  gives  it  sanction  and  sacredness)  ;  we 
hug  it  reverently  to  our  hearts  in  devotions;  and  in 
some  localities  we  demand  of  the  minister  his  reading 
from  the  pulpit  out  of  the  big  Bible  that  lays  on  the 
sacred  desk!    Mr.  Campbell  goes  on  in  his  objectiom, 

1  Liv.  Or.,  p.  75.      2  Reconstruction  in  Theology,  p.  41. 

—163— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


"Our  whole  phraseolog}-  on  religious  topics  is  affected  by 
the  antiquated  style  of  the  common  version.  Hence  we  have 
been  constrained  to  adopt  a  name  for  this  style,  to  distinguish 
it  from  the  good  style  of  persons  well  educated  in  our  mother 
tongue.  This  old-fashioned  style  we  call  the  sacred  style;  yet 
this  sacred  style  was  the  common  style  in  the  reign  of  James."* 

How  grotesque  this  is  appears  in  the  fact  which  he 
cites : 

"The  old  Gothic  buildings  in  North  and  South  Britain  aie 
generally  places  of  worship;  hence,  although  this  style  of  archi- 
tecture was  once  as  common  in  England  and  Scotland  as  any 
of  the  present  models,  yet  this  style  being  preserved  only,  or 
almost  exclusively,  in  the  places  of  worship  which  the  venera- 
tion of  our  ancestors  preserved  from  dilapidation,  has  given  a 
sacred  aspect  to  places  of  worship,  and  has  rendered  the  Gothic 
style  of  architecture  as  sacred  as  the  obsolete  style  of  King 
Henry  or  King  James.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  veneration 
shown  to  places  of  worship,  not  a  specimen  of  the  Gothic  style 
would  at  this  day  have  stood  upon  the  British  Isles;  and  had 
it  not  been  the  same  species  of  veneration,  we  should  not  have 
had  at  this  time  any  book,  sacred  or  profane,  written  or  pub- 
lished in  the  style  of  the  sixteenth  centu^^^  *  *  *  They 
(antiquated  terms  and  phrases)  have  yielded  their  places  to 
another  race  in  our  writing  and  speeches,  except  in  the  pulpit 
or  s>Tiagogue — why  not  also  in  the  sacred  writings?  We  might 
as  reasonably  contend  that  men  should  appear  in  the  public 
assemblies  for  worship  with  long  beards,  in  Jewish  or  Roman 
garments,  as  that  the  Scripture  should  be  handed  to  us  in  a 
st3-le  perfectly  antiquated,  and  consequently  less  intelligible. 
*  *  *  For  is  the  Kingdom  of  God  become  words  or  sylla- 
bles? Why  should  we  be  in  bondage  to  them  if  we  may  be 
free?"2 

1  Reconstruction  in  Theolog^^,  p.  76.      2  Liv.  Or.,  p.  78f. 

—164— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 
Again  he  says: 

"A  living  language  is  continually  changing.  Like  the  fash- 
ions and  customs  in  apparel,  words  and  phrases  at  one  time 
current  and  fashionable,  in  the  lapse  of  time  become  awkward 
and  obsolete.  But  this  is  not  all.  Many  of  them,  in  a  century 
or  two,  come  to  have  a  signification  very  different  from  that 
which  was  once  attached  to  them.  Nay,  some  are  known  to 
convey  ideas  not  only  different  from,  but  contrary  to  their  first 
signification."^ 

So  Mr.  Campbell  is  able  to  say  of  his  own  efforts  in 
translating  that  he  had  produced  one  "in  a  style  so  mod- 
ernized, and  yet  so  simple,  exact,  and  faithful  to  the 
original"  that  it  commends  itself  to  the  intelligence  of 
the  people.  He  fears  opposition  and  lack  of  response  only 
from  the  "weak-minded,"  for  says  he, 

"From  persons  of  sound  biblical  learning  and  candor,  we 
have  nothing  to  fear;  but  from  all  bigots  and  illiberal  critics 
we  expect  the  same  coarse  treatment  which  has  fallen  to  the 
lot  of  every  translation  from  Jerome's  time  till  the  present 
day.'" 

And  were  the  translators  of  the  Twentieth  Century 
New  Testament  to  join  Mr.  Campbell  in  this  sentiment 
they  would  extend  the  date  to  1904!  And  were  one  to 
make  a  missionary  tour  among  the  churches  he  might 
in  many  unmodernized  communities  put  the  date  1909  as 
to  all  versions  except  the  authorized ! 

Mr.  Campbell  was  not  merely  defending  his  own  at- 
tempt, for  he  says : 

1  Liv.  Or.,p.  3.      2  Ibid.,  326. 

—165— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


"I  am  always  prepared  to  defend  not  only  the  New  Version 
which  I  have  published,  but  the  necessity  of  new  versions  for 
the  confirmation  of  the  faith  and  the  enlargement  of  the  views 
of  Christians."^ 

New  translations  are  needed  from  time  to  time  as  the 
progressive  development  and  growing  conceptions  of  the 
age  require.  He  therefore  enlarges  upon  his  reasons  for 
new  versions.   He  says : 

"The  living  tongues  of  earth,  like  living  men,  are  continually 
changing.  Dictionaries,  like  historians,  transmit  the  past  to  the 
future.  Hence  both  the  necessity  and  the  means  of  substitut- 
ing correct  words  and  phrases  for  those  that  have,  from  the 
attrition  and  waste  of  time,  lost  their  original  value,  become 
uncurrent,  and  passed  out  of  use.  Even  Shakespeare  and  his 
contemporary  poets,  orators  and  authors  now  require  glossaries, 
or  the  substitution  of  modern  terms  for  those  which  they  have 
used  that  are  now  become  obsolete  and  unintelligible.  The 
common  version  of  Scriptures  was  made  and  completed  six 
years  before  the  death  of  the  great  English  poet.  It,  there- 
fore, has  also  acquired  the  rust  of  the  Elizabethan  age,  al- 
though occasionally  since  polished  by  hands  we  know  not  of."^ 

This  same  recognition  of  change  which  Mr.  Campbell 
is  emphasizing  is  the  burden  of  that  timely  article  on 
''The  Apostolic  Service"  by  Dr.  Willett,  where  he  says: 
"Truth  never  changes,  but  its  forms  and  appearances  are 
ever  varying.  Like  Proteus,  the  old  man  of  the  sea,  it 
never  appears  twice  in  the  same  guise.  Each  generation 
goes  to  school  to  new  teachers,  as  if  all  the  world  were 
in  its  morning-time.^   But  Mr.  Campbell  continues : 

1  C.  B.,  p.  660.      2  Add.,  677.      3  Christian  Cent.,  Nov.  22,  1906. 
—166— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


"Passages  of  Scripture  will,  translated  into  any  one  language 
in  one  age,  cease  to  be  a  correct  and  intelligible  translation  to 
the  people  of  another  age.  *  *  *  The  common  version  was 
gotten  up  some  two  and  a  half  centuries  since,  under  prelat- 
ical,  hierarchical  and  royal  patronage  and  restrictions.  The  ver- 
nacular of  that  day,  spoken  and  written,  was,  in  orthography, 
punctuation,  and  in  much  of  its  common  wording,  quite  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  present  day.  The  knowledge  of  the  orig- 
inal tongues  then  possessed  was  proportionally  more  than  two 
centuries  behind  that  of  the  present  day,  and  their  general  lit- 
erature and  science  were  still  more  deficient.  *  *  *  g^t 
why  argue  this  case  further?  The  many  marginal  readings  of 
recondite  terms  in  our  numerous  and  various  commentaries, 
and  in  our  family  Bibles  and  Testaments,  the  labors  of  in- 
numerable pulpit  orators  and  lecturers,  expended  every  Lord's 
day  in  correcting  and  explaining  the  text  in  all  the  synagogues 
in  our  land;  alike  demonstrate  the  need  of  a  new  version,  and 
our  ability  to  furnish  it, — first  by  selecting  a  well  authenticated 
original  text,  and  then  by  giving  an  exact,  perspicuous  and 
faithful  translation  of  it,  and  that,  too,  in  a  pure,  chaste  and 
elegant  Anglo-Saxon  style.  That  our  age  and  contemporaries 
are  equal  to  this  is  quite  as  evident  as  that  the  Greek  and 
Roman  classics  have  been  and  can  again  be  so  translated  by 
competent  scholars."^ 

It  is  well  to  be  reminded  that  words  and  language 
do  not  fall  ready-made,  like  snow-flakes  from  the  heavens 
upon  the  heads  of  individuals.  They  are  wrought  out  in 
the  experience  of  personal  souls  who  feel,  and  then  create 
language  to  express  to  others  what  is  felt.  And  since 
this  experience  is  growing  experience — personal  progres- 
sive souls  feeling,  there  is  constant  need  of  new  language 


1  Add.,  p.  613f. 


—167— 


Alexander  CamphcU  and  Christian  Liberty. 


or  thought-forfns  to  convey  the  newly  felt,  because  the 
old  thought-forms  do  not  grow.  The  old  conceptions 
will  not  only  cease  to  convey  the  fresh  experience  but 
will  burst,  like  the  old  wine  skins  filled  with  new  wine, 
under  the  pressure  of  the  test  and  fall  away  from  sheei 
inability.  While  the  soul  expression  with  renewed  beauty 
and  power  stands  forth  dressed  in  new  language.  But 
%t,  too,  must  soon  pass  away,  for  the  soul  is  ever  becom- 
ing. Therefore,  language,  which  is  but  a  fixed  thought- 
scheme  for  conveying  thoughts  and  feelings,  must  ever 
be  changing  to  answer  the  demands  of  the  growing  soul 
struggling  for  expression.  This  is  why  the  old  trans- 
lations fail  to  satisfy.  The  new  translation,  with  its 
new  conceptions,  is  inevitable,  because  God's  self-revela- 
tion is  progressive.  The  completely  personal  God  is 
revealing  himself  to  the  partially  personal  creature  who 
is  becoming  like  him.  Hence  the  Bible  is  never  a  dead 
letter,  but  always  a  living  spirit. 

So  interpretation  not  only  borders  on,  but  enters  into 
translation.    Therefore,  Mr.  Campbell  can  say: 

"The  great  science  of  interpretation,  strange  to  tell,  like  good 
wine,  improves  from  age  to  age.  Not,  indeed,  the  scriptural 
gift  of  interpretation;  but  the  literary  and  acquired  gift  of 
exposition  and  elucidation  is  matured  and  perfected  from  better 
means  and  better  learning  now  possessed  —  the  product  and 
growth  of  a  revived  and  reviving  literature."^ 

He  is  thus  enabled  to  establish  his  plea  for  new  trans- 
lations upon  even  better  grounds  than  that  of  style, 

1  Add.,  p.  577. 

—168— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


structure  and  composition.  The  authorized  version  he 
finds  to  be  deeply  penetrated  with  the  interpretation  of 
biased  translators.    He  says: 

"They  have  come  to  us  in  a  translation,  and  in  an  imper- 
fect translation,  by  no  means  equal,  in  clearness  and  force,  to 
the  original.  *  *  *  They  read  the  originals  through  the 
spectacles  of  their  vernacular  versions,  and,  superadded  to  this, 
through  a  ready-made  theology,  imparted  to  them  by  early  edu- 
cation and  high  authority — parental  or  ministerial,  or  both.  It 
has  become  part  and  parcel  of  their  individuality.  Few  can 
divest  themselves  of  it.  It  is  harder,  far,  to  unlearn  than  to 
learn — to  divest  ourselves  of  old  errors  than  to  acquire  new 
truths.  Still,  it  is  our  duty,  as  it  is  our  safety  and  our  honor, 
to  take  the  living  oracles  (Hebrew  and  Greek  originals),  and, 
with  an  unveiled  face,  an  unblenching  eye  and  an  honest  heart, 
to  learn  and  study  what  God  has  spoken  to  us."^ 

This  is  the  same  feeling  that  spurred  on  Erasmus  in 
his  labors.  No  v^^onder  some  thought  Mr.  Campbell  was 
doing  the  work  of  a  destructive  critic.  Just  look  at  the 
situation.  The  people  had  only  one  Bible.  This  was 
the  "old  family  Bible  that  lay  on  the  stand."  This  they 
implicitly  believed  to  be  the  word  of  God  from  lid  to  lid. 
And  here  in  their  midst  was  the  daring  critic,  Alexander 
Cambpell,  telling  them  that  this  only  cherished  Bible 
of  theirs  was  not  what  they  thought  it  to  be.  It  is  a 
wonder  that  Mr.  Campbell  had  not  become  strangely 
silent  for  fear  he  might  overthrow  the  faith  of  some. 
But  his  interests  were  lined  up  with  truth  and  he  feared 
not  the  outcome  of  truth.    Those  who  turned  a  deaf  ear 


1  Add.,  p.  569. 


—169— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


to  what  !Mr.  Campbell  was  pointing  out  kept  on  in  the 
old,  narrow  orthodox  way.  Those  who  walked  in  the 
wake  of  his  new-shed  light  were  termed  Campbellites. 
Campbell-lights,  I  imagine,  because  of  the  light  shed 
about  them  by  Campbell! 

But  he  does  not  stop  with  insinuations  or  mild  attacks 
upon  their  decayed  orthodox  ideas.  He  simply  pours  it 
on.    He  says: 

"The  common  version  was  made  at  a  time  when  religious 
controversy  was  at  its  zenith ;  and  that  the  tenets  of  the  trans- 
lators, whether  designedly  or  undesignedly,  did,  on  many  occa- 
sions, give  a  wrong  turn  to  words  and  sentences  bearing  upon 
their  favorite  dogma."^ 

]Moreover, 

"King  James'  version  is,  at  most,  but  a  correction,  not,  in- 
deed, always  an  amended  correction,  of  the  version  of  Wm. 
Tindal.'" 

And  again, 

"The  King's  translators  have  frequently  erred  in  attempting 
to  be,  what  some  would  call,  literally  correct.  They  have  not 
given  the  meaning  in  some  passages  where  they  have  given  a 
literal  translation.'" 

He  sums  up  his  objections  in  the  critical  findings  of 
Dr.  Macknight.  They  are  (1)  often  differing  from  the 
Hebrew  to  follow  the  seventy,  or  German,  translations; 
(2)  following  the  Vulgate  Latin  and  adopting  many  of 
the  original  words  without  translation — hence  unintelli- 

1  Liv.  Or.,  p.  7.      2  Add  .  p.  584.      3  Uv.  Or.,  p.  10. 

—170— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 

gible;  (3)  keeping  too  close  to  Hebrew  and  Greek  idioms 
— hence  obscure ;  (4)  a  little  too  complaisant  to  the  king 
— favoring  his  dogma;  (5)  partial,  speaking  the  language 
of,  and  giving  authority  to  one  sect ;  (6)  where  the  orig- 
inal admits  of  different  translations,  the  worse  incor- 
porated in  the  text  and  the  better  often  thrown  into  the 
margin;  (7)  many  passages  mistranslated. 

"Besides  this"  [adds  Mr.  Campell],  "the  divisions  of  the 
scriptures  of  the  New  Testament  into  chapters  and  verses  by 
Romanists  of  small  learning,  and  less  intelligence  in  the  mean- 
ing of  the  inspired  writings,  in  imitation  of  the  Jewish  rabbin's 
division  of  the  Old  Testament,  has  been  long  complained  of 
by  all  the  judicious  and  intelligent  scripturians  of  the  last  cen- 
tury."^ 

Mr.  Campbell,  under  the  theme,  "The  Word  of  God," 

expresses  himself  so  freely,  considering  his  ag^,  that  not 
to  give  it  entire  would  ruin  its  exquisite  sensibleness  and 
mar  its  classic  beauty.   He  says : 

"So  badly  taught  are  many  Christians  that  they  cannot  think 
that  any  translation  of  the  scriptures  deserves  the  title  of  the 
Word  of  God  except  that  of  King  James.  The  translators  of 
the  King's  version  did  not  themselves  think  so,  as  we  have 
shown  most  conclusively  by  publishing  their  own  preface — on 
which  preface  we  have  some  remarks  to  make,  at  a  more  con- 
venient time.  But  to  the  intelligent  reader  no  remarks  are 
necessary  to  show  that  they  had  very  different  ideas  of  their 
version,  from  those  which  this  generation  have  formed.  Have 
the  French,  the  Spanish,  the  German,  and  all  the  nations  of 
Europe,  save  the  English,  no  Word  of  God?    If  King  James' 


1  c.  B.,  p.  161. 


—171— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


version  is  the  only  Word  of  God  on  earth,  then  all  the  nations 
who  speak  any  other  language  than  the  English  have  no  Rev- 
elation. 

"Much  of  the  reasoning  of  both  priests  and  people,  on  this 
subject,  is  as  silly  as  that  of  an  old  lady  who,  for  many  years, 
has  beea  deprived  of  her  reason,  from  whom  we  heard  the 
other  day.  She  once  had  a  sound  judgment,  and  still  has  a 
retentive  memory,  though  she  has  not  been  compos  mentis  one 
day  in  twenty  years.  Her  husband  was  reading  in  the  new 
version  the  cure  of  the  blind  man  (Mark  viii  :24).  He  came 
to  these  words :  *I  see  men  whom  I  can  distinguish  from  trees 
only  by  their  walking.'  In  the  King's  version,  1  see  men  as 
trees,  walking.'  After  reading  these  words  he  paused,  and 
observed  to  the  old  lady,  to  elicit  a  reply,  'How  much  better 
this,  than  the  old  version.'  'That  is  a  good  explanation,'  said 
she,  'but  it  is  not  the  scriptures,  not  the  Word  of  God  '  So 
our  good  logicians  reason. 

"I  would  thank  some  of  those  ignorant  declaimers  to  tell  us 
where  the  Word  of  God  was  before  the  reign  of  King  James ! 
Had  they  no  divine  book  before  this  good  King,  in  consequence 
of  the  Hampton  Conference,  summoned  his  wise  men?  Yes; 
they  had  version  after  version,  each  of  which,  in  its  turn,  ceased 
to  be  'Word  of  God'  when  a  new  one  was  given.  This  I  say 
after  the  manner  of  these  declaimers.  Our  good  forefathers, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  read  and  preached  from  a 
different  version,  which  they  venerated  in  their  day,  as  our 
compeers  venerate  James'  Bible.  The  English  language  has 
changed,  and  the  original  tongues  are  better  understood  now 
than  then.  The  common  version  is,  as  many  good  and  learned 
men  have  said,  quite  obsolete  in  its  language,  and  in  many 
places  very  defective  in  giving  the  ideas  found  in  the  original 
scriptures.  Taken  as  a  whole,  it  has  outlived  its  day  at  least 
one  century,  and,  like  a  superannuated  man,  has  failed  to  be  as 
lucid  and  as  communicative  as  in  its  prime. 


—172— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


"There  is  no  version  in  any  language  that  does  not  clearly 
communicate  the  same  great  facts,  and  make  the  path  of  bliss 
a  plain  and  easy  found  one;  but  there  is  an  immense  differ- 
ence in  the  force,  beauty,  clearness,  and  intelligibility  of  the 
different  versions  now  in  use.  And  that  King  James'  version 
needs  a  revision  is  just  as  plain  to  the  learned  and  biblical 
student  as  that  the  Scotch  and  English  used  in  the  sixteenth 
century  is  not  the  language  now  spoken  in  these  United  States. 
And  this  may  be  made  as  plain  to  the  common  mind  as  it  is 
that  the  coat  which  suited  the  boy  of  twelve  will  not  suit  the 
same  person  when  forty  years  old.  As  the  boy  grows  from  his 
coat,  so  do  we  from  the  language  of  our  ancestors."^ 

Mr.  Campbell  received  the  following  letter: 

"Dear  sir: 

"One  of  our  teachers  in  this  county  has  refused  to 
have  the  new  translation  read  in  public  meeting  because 
it  is  not  the  word  of  God,  alleging  that  the  common  ver- 
sion is  received  as  the  word  of  God,  but  that  the  new 
translation  is  not  considered  such.  Pray,  whose  word 
shall  we  call  it?  Answer  this,  please,  for  some  of  us  are 
in  doubt  upon  this  subject.   Yours  truly, 

"Candidus/' 

In  his  reply,  which  we  give  in  part,  Mr.  Campbell  in- 
dulges in  the  following  irony : 

"Your  teacher  was  certainly  right,  and  you  should  all  pas- 
sively submit  to  his  determination.  For  the  common  version 
is  the  Word  of  God,  but  the  new  translation  is  not.  The  rea- 
son I  will  now  tell  you.  The  common  version  was  made  by 
forty-nine  persons  authorized  by  a  King,  paid  for  their  trouble 
by  the  King,  and  when  their  work  was  published,  the  King 
4  C.  B.,  o.  540. 

—173— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


ordered  it  to  be  read  as  the  Word  of  God  in  public  assemblies 
and  in  families,  to  the  exclusion  of  every  other  version.  Now 
all  the  versions  that  were  read  before  this  King's  reign  ceased 
to  be  the  Word  of  God  when  the  King  signed  the  decree ;  and 
from  that  moment  the  King's  version  became  the  word  of  God. 
You  will  see,  then,  that  there  are  two  things  necessary  to  con- 
ititute  any  translation  the  Word  of  God:  first,  that  it  be 
authorized  by  a  King  and  his  court;  and,  again,  that  it  be  fin- 
ished by  forty-nine  persons.  Every  translation  becomes  the 
word  of  God,  according  to  the  number  of  persons  that  make  it. 
Thus,  if  one  hundred  persons  made  a  trar>slation  it  would  be 
doubly  more  the  word  of  God  than  that  made  by  the  forty- 
nine,  and  four  times  more  than  that  made  by  twenty-five,  and 
+hirty-three  times  and  one-third  more  than  the  new  version, 
provided  it  was  so  decreed  by  a  King.  For  you  must  remember 
that  both  are  necessary,  and  that  if  a  thousand  men  should 
agree  to  make  a  version,  it  would  not  when  made  be  the  word 
of  God,  because  it  wanted  the  royal  approbation.  You  will 
naturally  conclude,  from  these  plain  facts,  that  if  one  man  or 
three  men  should  most  exactly  and  perfectly  translate  the  orig- 
inal Greek  and  correct  many  errors  and  inaccuracies  in  the 
King's  translation,  it  would  nevertheless  still  be  the  word  of 
man;  for  all  the  errors,  inaccuracies  and  imperfections  in  the 
common  version  are  the  word  of  God,  and  the  correction  of 
them  all,  or  any  number  of  them,  by  only  one  man  or  three 
men,  would  be  no  more  than  the  word  of  man.  This,  sir,  is 
not  only  sound,  but  most  orthodox  logic.  It  would,  therefore, 
be  a  profanation  of  the  pulpit,  and  the  holy  place,  to  read 
within  thirty  yards  of  it,  the  new  version.  If  it  be  read  at  all, 
it  ought  to  be  at  least  beyond  the  graveyard,  or  outside  of  all 
the  consecrated  ground.  It  may  be  read  in  famihes,  just  hke 
'Robinson  Crusoe'  or  any  other  romance;  but  never  with  the 
veneration  of  a  sermon-book,  and  infinitely  less  of  the  word  of 
God.'"^ 

1  C.  B.,p.345f. 

—174— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Yet,  after  more  than  half  a  century  of  such  pleading, 
a  dear  sister,  a  contender  for  the  faith  once  for  all  de- 
livered to  the  saints,,  greeted  the  minister  as  he  stepped 
from  the  pulpit  one  beautiful  Lord's  day  morning,  with 
the  warm,  heart-felt  demand  that  he  read  no  more  the 
new  version  of  the  Bible  because  those  higher  critics 
who  had  gotten  it  up  so  shocked  her  nerves !  But  said 
she,  "Read  that  pulpit  Bible ;  that's  what  it  is  there  for ; 
read  that  good  old  King  James  authorized  version  which 
we  knozi,'  to  be  the  word  of  God!"  Let  me  add,  this 
sister  is  a  great  stickler  for  the  fathers,  enthusiastic  in 
following  in  their  footsteps,  and  an  ardent  lover  of  Alex- 
ander Campbell ! 

Such  a  large  place  has  been  given  to  this  part  of 
Mr.  Campbell's  labors  for  the  comfort  of  the  brothers  in 
the  ministry.  Not  because  the  King  James  version  is 
now  in  the  air  as  it  was  in  Mr.  Campbell's  day.  Yet  in 
many  congregations  of  Disciples  the  air  is  thick  with 
this  authorized  version.  So  much  so  that  the  revised  and 
the  Standard  versions  are  looked  at  askance.  Even  if 
the  question  of  the  authorized  version  be  not  under  con- 
sideration in  the  reader's  locality,  Mr.  CampheU's  com- 
mon seme  and  keen  logic,  which  he  here  so  dexterously 
displays,  are  fidly  as  applicable  to  other  problems  that 
are  up  for  cotmderation. 

One  is  impressed  upon  studying  the  tremendous  efforts 
Mr.  Campbell  put  forth  in  this  department  of  work,  of 
the  long  time  required  for  the  truth  to  become  the  prop- 
erty of  all.  This  is  partly  to  be  accounted  for  in  that 
—175— 


Alexander  Camphcll  and  Christian  Liberty. 


the  first  approach  of  truth  is  new  and  strange.  As  Dr. 
Selleck  says:'  "A  new  idea  is  liable  to  shock,  disturb, 
and  perhaps  alarm  us,  if  not  indeed  to  arouse  our  angry 
opposition ;  but  later,  when  we  become  acquainted  with  it 
and  find  it  a  friend  instead  of  an  enemy,  we  assent  to  its 
claims,  embrace  it,  and  let  it  enrich  our  lives."  While  it 
is  true  that  some  close  their  eyes  to  the  light  of  glorious 
day  and  retire  into  the  dark  regions  of  willful  ignorance 
and  superstition,  yet  this  is  not  true  of  the  mass  of  men 
and  women.  The  common  people  are  in  the  main  open 
to  the  truth  and  are  demanding  reality.  Honesty  char- 
acterizes the  mass.  There  is  a  cause  for  the  unreceptivity 
of  the  people.  The  real  cause  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
each  age  has  its  bigots,  religious  bosses,  who  along  with 
their  inordinate  ambition  to  lord  it  over  God's  flock  have 
such  a  smattering  of  merely  intellectual  knowledge  as 
to  w^in  the  hearts  of  the  people  through  a  showy  brilliancy 
and  keep  their  prejudices  whetted  and  ready  always  for 
defense  and  offense.  Such  was  the  age  and  fate  of 
Jesus.  Such  was  Mr.  Campbell's  day.  Such,  in  part, 
is  ours. 

Another  excellent  thing  about  Mr.  Cambpell  is  that 
he  did  not  depreciate  the  better  spirit  of  his  times.  That 
there  w^ere  eminent  critics  in  his  day,  who  in  character 
and  ability  w^ere  far  superior  to  any  previous,  he  never 
doubted.  This  confidence  gave  him  a  most  optimistic 
outlook  on  the  future  of  the  Bible,  and  consequently  the 
welfare  of  the  church. 

1  The  New  Appreciation  of  the  Bible,  p.  227. 

—176— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


^lany  were  willing  to  rest  in  the  wisdom  of  the  past; 
nay,  more,  even  felt  it  to  be  impious  and  sacrilegious 
even  to  raise  the  question  that  their  age  had  grown  wiser 
or  was  more  competent  to  give  the  world  a  better  word 
of  God.  To  such  the  Bible  was  a  closed  book.  What 
had  served  their  fathers  was  good  enough  for  them ; 
just  as  it  was,  with  all  its  inelegancies,  inaccuracies,  and 
sectarian  phraseologies.  One  fellow  said  that  it  didn't 
make  any  difference  to  him  how  inaccurate  it  was  in 
style,  etc.,  since  he  never  got  time  to  notice  those  things. 
This  reminds  one  of  the  old  farmer  over  in  Canada 
to  whom  the  newspaper  agent  from  Toronto  tried,  but 
failed,  to  sell  a  weekly  paper  for  one  dollar  a  year.  In 
talking  with  him  the  agent  learned  that  he  knew  noth- 
ing about  Queen  Victoria's  death  or  King  Edward's 
coronation.  "But,"  said  the  old  farmer,  "these  things 
don't  make  any  difference  to  me;  I'm  always  too  busy, 
making  a  living,  to  read  them." 

Xot  so  with  Mr.  Campbell.  He  not  only  wanted  his 
religious  ideas  serv^ed  up  in  the  most  elegant  fashion  and 
according  to  the  most  modern  and  approved  methods, 
but  he  lived  in  the  conviction  that  the  19th  century  had 
the  critical  ability  to  grant  this.   He  says : 

"We  are  now  in  possession  of  much  better  means  of  making 
an  exact  translation  than  they  were  at  the  time  when  the  com- 
mon version  appeared.    The  original  is  now  much  better  under- 
stood than  it  was  then.    The  conflicts  of  so  manv  critics  have 
(12)  -177- 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


elicited  a  great  deal  of  sound  critical  knowledge  which  was 
not  in  the  possession  of  any  translators  before  the  last  cen 
tury."' 

In  an  address  before  the  American  Bible  Union,  held 
in  New  York  in  1850,  in  a  plea-  for  a  new  version  of  the 
Bible,  he  said: 

"The  word  of  God  was  not,  a  century  or  two  since,  as  well 
understood  as  it  is  now,  by  the  most  enlightened  and  reformed 
portions  of  Protestant  Christendom.  Biblical  literature,  criti- 
cism and  science,  since  the  times  of  Wickliffe,  Tindal,  Luther, 
Calvin,  Zuinglius,  Beza,  Cranmer,  Coverdale,  Archbishop  Par- 
ker, Edward  VI.  or  James  I.,  have  greatly  advanced.  The 
last  seventy-five  years  have  contributed  more  to  real  Biblical 
learning — have  given  to  the  Christian  Church  larger  and  better 
means  of  translating  the  original  Scriptures — than  had  accu- 
mulated from  the  days  of  Tindal  to  the  era  of  the  American 
revolution. 

"We  are,  therefore,  better  prepared  to  give  a  correct  and 
faithful  version  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  at  this  day,  than  at 
any  former  period  since  the  revival  of  literature.  We  have 
also  a  more  correct  original  from  which  to  translate  than  they 
had  at  any  former  period  since  the  art  of  printing  was  invented. 
The  Greek  text  of  the  New  Testament  has  been  subjected  to 
the  most  laborious  investigation;  and,  after  the  most  rigid  scru- 
tiny and  comparison,  a  much  more  accurate  original  has  oeen 
obtained.  With  these  advantages  in  our  favor,  we  are  better 
furnished  than  at  any  former  period  to  enter  upon  a  work  of 
such  awful  and  momentous  magnitude  and  responsibility."^ 

In  an  address  before  the  Bible  Union  conventioii,  at 
Memphis,  Tenn.,  1852,  he  said : 

"The  labors  bestowed  upon  the  original  text,  ascertaining  the 

lUv.Or.,p.  9.      2  Add.,  p.  615. 

—178— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


genuine  readings  of  passages  of  doubtful  interpretation,  and 
the  great  advances  made  in  the  whole  science  of  hermeneutics 
— the  established  laws  of  translation — since  the  commencement 
of  the  present  century,  fully  justify  the  conclusion  that  we  are, 
or  may  be,  much  better  furnished  for  the  work  of  interpreta- 
tion than  any  one,  however  gifted  by  nature  and  by  education, 
could  have  been,  not  merely  fifty,  but  almost  two  hundred  and 
fifty,  years  ago.  The  living  critics  and  translators  of  the  pres- 
ent day,  in  Europe  and  America,  are  like  Saul  amongst  the 
people — head  and  shoulders  above  those  of  the  early  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century. 

"As  for  honesty,  we  ought  not,  perhaps,  to  say  anything. 
But  we  may  presume  to  say,  without  the  charge  of  arrogance 
or  invidious  comparison,  that  we  are  not  greatly  inferior  to 
them.  And  if  in  talent  and  education,  compared  with  the  mod- 
erns, they  were  giants,  still,  as  pigmies  standing  upon  the  shoul- 
ders of  giants,  we  ought  to  see  farther  than  those  upon  whose 
shoulders  we  place  ourselves.  Biblical  criticism  is  now  much 
more  a  science  than  it  was  in  A.  D.  1600,  so  soon  after  the 
revival  of  literature.  A  far  greater  number  of  Biblical  critics 
has  succeeded  than  preceded  the  Protestant  Reformation,  and 
of  a  much  higher  order.  Before  that  era  there  was  not  one 
good  Greek  or  Hebrew  critic  for  one  hundred  at  the  present 
day.  The  Papal  Romans  were  merely  Roman  scholars,  and 
yet  inferior  to  the  Pagan  Romans.  These  are  facts  so  gen- 
erally known  and  conceded  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  dwell 
upon  them.  The  art  of  printing,  with  the  increased  number 
of  theological  seminaries,  and  the  competition  between  Roman- 
ists and  Protestants,  and  between  the  leading  Protestant  par- 
ties them.selves,  with  the  facilities  of  a  more  enlarged  inter- 
course am.ongst  learned  men,  could  not  otherwise  than  elevate 
the  standard  of  Biblical  scholarship  and  afford  greater  facili- 
ties for  acquiring  Biblical  learning. 

"Corresponding  with  this,  the  vigorous  impulse  given  to  the 
—179— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


human  mind  by  the  rapid  progress  in  the  sciences  and  in  the 
arts  merely  physical  and  intellectual,  the  great  increase  of  new 
discoveries  and  general  improvement  in  the  social  system,  sus- 
tained by  the  facilities  of  the  press,  have  all  contributed  to  a 
higher  intellectual  development  and  a  more  thorough  scholar- 
ship than  were  ever  attained  by  the  Greek  or  Roman  schisms, 
or  by  any  Protestant  denomination  anterior  to  the  era  of  the 
common  version.  Indeed,  one  may  affirm,  without  the  fear  of 
successful  contradiction,  that  during  the  last  hundred  years, 
on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  in  Great  Britain,  and  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  Biblical  criticism.  Biblical  learning  and  Bib- 
lical translation  have  advanced,  in  every  essential  characteris- 
tic and  accompaniment,  much  more,  in  what  is  usually  called 
Christendom,  than  was  practicable  or  possible  anterior  to  that 
date. 

"A  more  suitable  time,  therefore,  has  never  been,  since  the 
era  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  language,  since  the  rise  of  the  Papal 
defection,  than  the  present,  for  a  corrected  and  improved  ver- 
sion of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  oracles,  in  the  living  Anglo- 
Saxon  language  of  the  present  day."^ 

One  thing  is  certain,  Alexander  Campbell,  in  his 
never-flinching  agitation  for  a  better  Bible  during  the 
19th  Century,  helped,  in  no  small  degree,  to  beat  down 
the  prejudice  in  the  v^ay,  and  giz:e  to  the  zvorld  the  revised 
Bible  which  we  now  enjoy.  He  believed  it  would  come 
because  it  was  needed,  and  because  it  had  the  sanction 
of  Heaven!  To  its  aid  he  lent  prophetic  voice!  With 
voice  and  pen  he  pleaded  the  enterprise!  And  it  came! 
And  thus  coming,  it  came  from  God !  Not  falling  down 
from  the  skies,  but  rising  up  out  of  personal  souls  made 
in  the  image  of  God  and  touched  and  inspired  by  His 


1  Add.,  p.  583f. 


—180— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


presence !  So  do,  and  so  will,  all  good  things  come  from 
God,  if  they  be  in  line  with  His  progressive  order. 

The  Christian  Century  of  March  19,  1903,  sounds  a 
timely  Campbellian  note:  "The  failure  on  the  part  of 
some  of  the  professed  followers  of  Campbell  to  appre- 
ciate the  literary  and  historical  method  of  Bible  study 
shows  how  far  in  advance  this  great  thinker  was  of  his 
time.  The  Disciples  of  Christ  as  a  body  will  not  give 
up  the  vantage  ground  which  was  gained  by  this  great 

leader  To  make  the  Bible  vital  in  this  age 

of  scientific  investigation  and  literary  criticism,  it  is  ab- 
solutely necessary  to  follow  the  leadership  of  such  great 
thinkers  as  Mr.  Campbell  and  to  advocate  the  historical 
and  literary  study  of  the  Bible  in  all  our  churches.  .  .  . 
A  clearer  vision  of  Christ  and  Christianity  cannot  be  ob- 
tained by  dogmatic  discussions  or  personal  criticisms. 
It  can  only  be  obtained  by  reverent  literary  and  historical 
study  of  the  Bible  and  of  Christian  history.  Let  the 
Disciples  of  Christ  lead  out  in  this  great  work  and  pre- 
pare our  young  men  thoroughly  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
word  of  God  and  of  Christian  history,  as  thoroughly  as 
Mr.  Campbell  and  some  of  his  noble  coadjutors  were 
prepared,  and  we  will  do  more  to  hasten  the  day  of  unity 
of  the  spirit  and  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God  among 
all  Christians  than  in  any  other  way." 


—181— 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Comingf  to  the  Bible 


What  to  us  are  the  petty  questions  we  have  been  dealing 
with,  if  God  is  our  Father  indeed?  Will  he  be  less  our  Father 
because  certain  records  of  the  past  have  been  composed  or  mis- 
understood in  the  process  of  compilation?  Is  his  love  lessened 
because  what  we  imagined  to  be  literal  fact  turns  out  to  be 
pregnant  and  splendid  parable?  Does  his  character  change 
because  our  interpretations  of  past  facts  or  the  interpretations 
of  those  who  went  before  us  have  been  mistaken?  These  ques- 
tions answer  themselves.  Indeed,  if  we  are  wise  and  willing 
to  be  led  onwards  by  the  teaching  of  God's  providence,  shall 
we  not  see  that  the  whole  drift  and  tendency  of  criticism  is 
to  help  us  upward  as  well  as  forward?  The  effect  of  the  criti- 
cism which  has  undermined  previously  accepted  views  has  been 
to  correct  a  great  deal  of  once  common  literalism  of  interpre- 
tation: the  knowledge  which  comes  to  us  comes  to  deliver  us 
from  notions  which  were  in  danger  of  becoming  too  mechan- 
ical :  the  interpretations  put  into  our  hands  are  wider  in  range 
and  more  ethical  in  scope :  everything  is  preaching  to  us  that 
we  need  to  become  more  Fpiritually  minded  if  we  are  to  under- 
stand the  ways  and  teachings  of  God.  In  times  like  our  own, 
when  men  afraid  of  trusting  the  living  God  are  seeking  to 
base  their  faith  upon  gross  materialistic  notions,  is  it  not  well 
that  the  disintegration  of  crude  ideas  which  criticism  brings 
should  bring  us  back  to  those  words  of  our  Lord,  which,  though 
constantly  ignored,  are  yet  as  constantly  needed  by  the 
Church?  "The  hour  cometh  when  neither  in  this  mountain  nor 
in  Jerusalem  shall  ye  worship  the  Father.  The  hour  cometh, 
and  now  is,  when  the  true  worshippers  shall  worship  the  Father 
in  spirit  and  in  truth.  God  is  a  spirit,  and  they  that  worship 
him  must  worship  in  spirit  and  in  truth."  (John  4:21-24.) 
— W.  Boyd  Carpenter,  Bishop  of  Ripon  (An  Intro,  to  the  Study 
of  the  Scriptures,  p.  151). 


—184— 


CHAPTER  IV. 


COMING  TO  THE  BIBLE. 

The  20th  Century  feels  that  it  is  not  quite  enough  to 
sit  before  the  great  masterpieces  of  antiquity  and  enjoy 
them.  The  studio  must  be  resurrected  with  its  crude 
forms,  tools,  and  whole  atmosphere,  that  the  ardent  be- 
holder may  enter  with  sympathetic  appreciation  into  the 
very  innermost  thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  artist.  The 
artist  is  not  only  known  by  his  finished  production,  but 
this  is  understood  to  a  considerable  degree  in  the  way 
in  which  he  performed  his  work.  In  order  to  form  a 
correct  estimation  of  Mr.  Campbell  or  enjoy  the  product 
of  his  brain,  it  is  necessary  to  watch  the  critic  as  he 
works. 

We  have  seen  him  turning  his  back  upon  the  old  Cath- 
olic conservative  tendency,  which,  in  Prof.  Brown's  put- 
ting,^ is  "reverent  of  the  past,  tenacious  of  its  traditions, 
distrustful  of  the  individual ;"  and  turning  to  the  Protest- 
ant position,  which  is  "the  liberal  tendency,  living  in  the 
present,  intent  upon  progress,  full  of  faith  in  the  indi- 
vidual man." 

After  Mr.  Campbell  has  once  restored  the  Bible, 
translated  as  perfectly  as  human,  fallible  men  may  be 

1  Christian  Theology  in  Outline,  p.  70. 

—185— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


able  to  render  it,  he  recognizes  the  fact  that  this  is  still 
but  a  small  part  of  the  immense  process  of  knowing  the 
will  of  God,  or  hearing  his  voice.  The  Bible  must  be 
understood.  It  must  be  interpreted.  He  proceeds  to 
this  task  upon  the  principle  granted  him  by  a  true 
Protestantism,  i.  e.,  the  liberty  of  the  individual  to  go  back 
to  the  source  and  penetrate  it  with  his  own  vision,  instead 
of  taking  his  interpretation  over  bodily  from  the  fathers. 
Relative  to  this,  he  says : 

"But  'the  fathers'  are  often  urged  as  decisive  evidence,  super- 
seding the  necessity  of  farther  inquiry.  All  sects  have  their 
fathers,  to  whom  they  are  not  wont  to  appeal."^ 

He  notes  the  decree  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  which 
declares  that : 

"It  belongs  to  the  church  to  judge  of  the  true  sense 
and  interpretation  of  scripture;  and  that  no  person  shall 
dare  to  interpret  it  in  matters  relating  to  faith  and  man- 
ners to  any  sense  contrary  to  that  which  the  church  has 
held,  or  contrary  to  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  fath- 
ers. 

Mr.  Campbell  replies  as  follows : 

"Here,  then,  we  have  the  essential  elements  of  mental  slavery 
and  degradation;  for,  if  no  person  dare  to  interpret  the  Scrip- 
tures contrary  to  what  the  church  has  already  held,  or  to  the 
unanimous  consent  of  the  Fathers ;  where  is  that  liberty  of 
thought  and  speech  and  action,  on  the  most  important  of  all  sub- 
jects, our  moral  and  religious  relations,  without  which,  liberty  is 
without  meaning,  and  mental  independence  but  a  name  j    *   *  * 

1  c.  B.,  p.  462. 

— 186— 


'Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


"The  fact  of  putting  the  Bible  under  a  bushel,  of  forbidding 
the  reading  of  it,  of  swearing  forever  to  interpret  it  as  it  has  been 
interpreted,  of  not  permitting  men  to  think  or  speak  for  them- 
selves on  religion  *  *  *  is  the  paragon  of  supreme  tyranny, 
never  surpassed,  never  equaled  on  earth."^ 

"The  plea  of  ancient  tradition  is  the  strength  of  Popery  and  the 
weakness  of  Protestantism.  We  advocate  not  ancient,  but  origi- 
nal Christianity.  The  plea  of  high  antiquity  or  tradition  has  long 
been  the  bulwark  of  errors.  It  cleaves  to  its  beloved  mother, 
TRADITION ,  hoary  Tradition,  with  an  affection  that  increases 
as  she  becomes  old  and  feeble.  Errorists  of  all  schools  are  ex- 
ceedingly devout  and  dutiful  so  far  as  the  precept,  'Honor  thy 
father  and  thy  mother,'  is  concerned."^ 

One  reformation  begets  another  reformation.  Just  as 
soon  as  a  pure  word  of  God  is  translated  there  must  be 
the  further  effort  of  understanding  it  aright.  So  Mr. 
Campbell,  in-  the  face  of  traditional  methods,  felt  that : 

"A  reformation  in  the  manner  of  handling  the  living  oracles 
is  much  wanted;  and  the  sooner  and  more  generally  it  is  at- 
tempted, the  greater  will  be  the  regenerating  influence  of  the 
brotherhood  on  the  world." ^ 

Speaking  of  the  lost  gospel,  he  finds  it  largely  due  to 
a  false,  yea,  blind,  interpretation.    He  says : 

"The  meaning  of  this  institution  (Gospel)  has  been  buried  un- 
der the  rubbish  of  human  traditions  for  hundreds  of  years.  It 
was  lost  in  the  dark  ages,  and  has  never  been,  till  recently,  dis- 
interred. Various  efforts  have  been  made,  and  considerable 
progress  attended  them;  but  since  the  Grand  Apostasy  was  com- 
pleted, till  the  present  generation,  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  has 
not  been  laid  open  to  mankind  in  its  original  plainness,  sim- 
plicity and  majesty.    A  veil  in  reading  the  New  Institution  has 

1  D.  on  R.  C.  R.,  p.  2T9f.      2  Bapt.,  p.  233.      3  ch.  Sj's.,  306. 

—187— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


been  on  the  hearts  of  Christians,  as  Paul  declares  it  was  upon  the 
hearts  of  the  Jews  in  reading  the  Old  Institution  toward  the  close 
of  that  economy."^ 

''But  what  kind  of  a  reformation  is  requisite  to  this  end?  It  is 
not  the  erection  of  a  new  sect,  the  invention  of  new  shibboleths, 
or  the  setting  up  of  a  new  creed,  nor  the  adopting  of  any  in  ex- 
istence save  the  New  Testament,  in  the  form  in  which  it  pleased 
the  spirit  of  God  to  give  it.  It  is  to  receive  it  as  it  stands,  and  to 
make  it  its  own  interpretation,  according  to  the  ordinary  rules  of 
interpreting  all  books.  *  *  *  Recollect,  we  say  the  Scriptures 
are  to  be  their  own  interpreter,  according  to  the  common  rules 
of  interpreting  other  writings."^ 

Hence  he  would  not  come  to  the  Bible  as  many  were 
coming,  theologically  prepossessed;  with  minds  already 
confirmed  as  to  what  the  Bible  is  and  what  it  means.  On 
the  contrary,  he  zvould  come  to  it  as  to  any  other  hook 
and  let  it  speak  for  itself.  Upon  this  common,  practical, 
individual  principle,  he  proceeds,  as  he  finds  illustration 
in  the  personal.    He  says: 

"When  one  person  addresses  another,  he  supposes  the  person 
addresses  competent  to  interpret  his  words.  *  *  *  (So  God) 
proceeded  upon  the  principle  that  they  were,  by  this  native  art, 
competent  interpreters  of  his  expressions.  *  *  *  The  fact 
that  God  has  clothed  his  communications  in  human  language,  and 
that  he  has  spoken  by  men,  to  men,  in  their  own  language,  is  de- 
cisive evidence  that  he  is  to  be  understood  as  one  man  con- 
versing with  another."^ 

This  method  of  approach  to  the  Bible  became  a  deter- 
minative and  formulative  factor  in  Mr.  Campbell's  un- 
derstanding of  the  scriptures,  destructive  of  all  those 

I  Ch.  Sys.,p.  192.      2C.B.,p.  41£.      3  Bapt.,  p.  50f. 

—188— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


mystical  attempts  to  make  the  Bible  out  entirely  super- 
human, and  hence  totally  unlike  other  literature.  In 
fact,  this  recognition  of  the  human  element  in  the  Bible, 
cataloging  it  among  the  world's  noble  literature,  placed 
him  in  line  with  the  world's  best  scholars  and  Biblical 
critics,  and  gave  him  the  use  of  the  historical  method 
that  the  Bible  might  speak  for  and  interpret  itself. 
Windelband,  in  tracing  the  development  of  historical 
Biblical  criticism,  which  was  begun  by  Semler,  says: 
"This  began  to  carry  out  the  thought  formulated  by 
Spinoza,  that  the  Biblical  books  must  be  treated  just  as 
other  writings,  as  regards  their  theoretical  contents,  their 
origin,  and  their  history;  that  they  must  be  understood 
from  the  point  of  view  of  their  time  arkd  the  character 
of  their  authors."^ 

Mr.  Campbell  comes  to  the  Bible  to  know  its  contents 
not  only  with  the  freedom  of  the  individual  understand- 
ing, but  that  understanding  must  be  an  intelligent  under- 
standing, furnished  with  the  best  possible  equipment.  In 
other  words,  he  must  be  free  to  avail  himself  of  the 
ablest  scholarship  of  the  day  in  directing  his  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Bible.  He  would  turn  upon  its  pages  all  pos- 
sible light  from  every  quarter.  This  enabled  him,  instead 
of  coming  to  the  Bible  traditionally  prepossessed,  or  in 
a  haphazard  way,  with  no  method,  to  come  to  it  as  a 
Biblical  critic  and  put  to  use  the  scientific  method  of  un- 
derstanding the  scriptures  historically. 

The  first  application  of  this  rule  discloses  that  the  Bible 

1  A  Hist,  of  Philosophy,  p.  498. 

—189— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


is  a  human  book.  To  understand  it  one  must  come,  then, 
with  the  same  rules  used  in  interpreting  other  litera- 
ture.   So  he  says: 

"God  has  spoken  by  men,  for  men.  The  language  of  the  Bible 
is,  then,  human  language.  It  is,  therefore,  to  be  examined  by 
the  same  rules  which  are  applicable  to  the  language  of  any  other 
book,  and  to  be  understood  according  to  the  true  and  proper 
meaning  of  the  words,  in  their  current  acceptation,  at  the  times 
and  in  the  places  in  which  they  were  originally  written  and 
translated.  *  *  *  adopt  any  other  course,  or  to  apply  any 
other  rules,  would  necessarily  divest  the  sacred  writings  of  every 
attribute  that  belongs  to  the  idea  of  revelation.  It  must  never 
be  forgotten  in  perusing  the  Bible  that  in  the  structure  of  sen- 
tences, in  figures  of  speech,  in  the  arrangement  and  use  of  words, 
it  differs  not  at  all  from  other  writings;  and  must  therefore  be 
understood  and  interpreted  as  they  are."^ 

"There  is  no  opinion  or  notion  which  is  more  prejudicial  to  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  these  writings  than  that  of  the 
Egyptian  priests,  introduced  into  the  first  theological  school  at 
Alexandria,  and  carried  throughout  Christendom,  viz.,  'that 
the  words  of  Scripture  have  a  mystical,  spiritual,  theological,  or 
some  other  than  a  literal  meaning;  and  that  the  same  rules  of 
interpretation  are  not  to  be  applied  to  the  inspired  writings,  which 
are  applied  to  human  composition ;'  than  which  no  opinion  is 
more  absurd  and  pernicious.  If  this  notion  were  correct,  all  ef- 
forts to  understand  the  book  must  be  in  vain,  until  God  sends  us 
an  interpreter  who  can  resolve  these  enigmas  and  mystic  words 
of  theological  import,  and  give  us  the  plain  meaning  of  what  the 
Apostles  and  Evangelists  wrote.  The  reader  will  consider  that, 
when  God  spoke  to  man,  he  adopted  the  language  of  man."- 

"We  will  take  the  book  (Biblos)  and  examine  what  is  written 
there,  by  the  same  criteria  which  we  would  apply  in  analysis  of 

1  Bapt.,  p.  54f.      2  Uv.  Dr.,  p.  16f. 

—190— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


the  writings  of  Cicero,  of  Demosthenes,  of  Salkist,  or  of  Xeno- 
phon."^ 

"When  we  enter  into  an  examination  of  the  testimony  on 
which  rehgion  is  founded,  we  have  no  other  scientific  rules  to 
resort  to,  than  those  which  regulate  and  govern  us  in  ascertain- 
ing the  weight  of  all  historic  evidence.  *  *  *  But  men  ap- 
proach the  examination  of  this  question,  not  as  they  approach  the 
examination  of  any  other.  The  believer  and  the  unbeliever  ap- 
proach it  under  great  disadvantages.  Religious  men  are  afraid 
to  call  its  truth  in  question.  This  religious  awe  acts  as  a  sort  of 
illusion  on  their  minds.  The  skeptics  are  prejudiced  against  it. 
This  prejudice  disqualifies  them  to  judge  fairly  and  impartially 
upon  the  merits  of  the  evidence.  The  religious  awe  of  the  Chris- 
tian and  the  prejudices  of  the  skeptic  are  real  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  both,  in  judging  impartially  of  the  weight  of  evidence  in 
favor  of  this  or  any  other  position,  at  the  bottom  of  Christian 
faith.  *  *  *  It  is  hard  for  any  man  to  inspect  this  oracle 
with  that  degree  of  impartiality  and  mental  independence  neces- 
sary to  demonstrate,  or  discriminate,  in  its  truth.  *  *  *  Mak- 
ing all  due  allowance  for  these  odds  and  disadvantages  against 
us,  and  acknowledging  that  we  claim  no  exemption  from  the  in- 
fluence of  these  courses,  we  are  disposed  to  approach  this  volume, 
as  far  as  in  us  lies,  without  being  influenced  by  that  awe,  or 
those  prejudices,  of  which  we  have  been  speaking.  Divesting 
ourselves,  therefore,  of  all  partialities,  pro  or  con,  let  us,  my 
friends,  approach  this  position.  *  *  *  They  [writers  of  the 
New  Testament]  subject  themselves  not  only  to  cross-examina- 
tion among  themselves,  but  to  be  compared  and  tried  by  con- 
temporary historians,  geographers,  politicians,  statesmen  and 
orators;  in  fact,  they  bring  themselves  in  contact  with  all  public 
documents  of  the  age  in  which  they  lived  and  wrote.  *  *  * 
IVe  claim  no  favors.  We  ask  for  no  peculiar  process,  no  new  or 
untried  form  of  examination.    We  will  constitute  no  new  court 

1  Evi.,  p.  190. 

—191— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


of  inquiry.  We  will  submit  the  question  of  authorship  to  be  tried 
by  all  the  canons,  or  regulations,  or  rules,  which  the  literary 
world,  which  the  most  rigid  critics  have  instituted  or  appealed  to, 
in  settling  any  literary  question  of  this  sort."^ 

"That  the  words  of  the  sacred  writings  are  taken  both  literally 
and  figuratively,  as  the  words  of  all  other  books,  is  now  almost 
universally  conceded;  and  that  the  true  sense  of  the  words  is  the 
true  doctrine  of  the  Bible,  is  daily  gaining  ground  among  the 
most  learned  and  skillful  interpreters;  in  one  word,  that  the 
Bible  is  not  to  be  interpreted  arbitrarily,  is  the  most  valuable 
discovery  or  concession  of  this  generation.  This,  indeed,  was 
confessed  by  our  most  distinguished  reformers.  IMelancthon 
said:  'The  Scripture  cannot  be  understood  theologically  until  it 
is  understood  grammatically,'  and  Luther  affirmed  that  a  certain 
knowledge  of  Scripture  depends  upon  a  knowledge  of  its  words."* 

The  popular  method,  aside  from  no  method  at  all,  of 
interpreting  the  Bible  in  Mr.  Campbell's  day,  was  the 
scrap,  or  text,  method.  "More  and  more,  as  the  first 
generation  of  Protestant  leaders  recedes  into  the  past, 
the  theology  of  those  who  come  after  passes  into  the 
scholastic  stage.  .  .  .  The  Bible  was  looked  upon  as 
an  authoritative  text-book,  from  which  doctrines  and 
proofs  of  doctrines  were  to  be  drawn  with  little  or  no 
discrimination  as  to  the  use  to  be  made  of  the  different 
books.  Such  were  the  ramifications  of  the  system  that 
little  if  any  space  was  left  for  varieties  of  opinion,  and 
dissent  upon  any  point  was  treated  as  heresy.'"^ Mr.  Camp- 
bell had  no  sympathy  whatever  with  such  a  scrappy  way 
of  gathering  divine  knowledge.    This  is  one  of  the  anti- 

1  Evi.,  p.  263f.   (Italics  Author's.)      2  Bapt.,  p.  59. 
3  History  of  Christian  Doctrine  (Fisher),  p.  347. 

—192— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


quated  customs  which  he  found  conserved  in  the  Roman 
CathoHc  Church,  He  affirms  that  in  this  way  she  had 
taken  away  the  key  of  knowledge  and  lost  to  the  people 
the  key  of  interpretation,  thus  rendering  the  oracles  of 
God  of  none  effect.  He  would  choose  the  up-to-date, 
scientific  method  and  come  to  the  oracle  intelligently 
furnished  with  the  best  outfit  that  Biblical  criticism  af- 
forded. His  greatest  objection  urged  against  using  the 
Bible  as  an  arsenal  of  texts  is  that  it  harks  against  a 
correct  interpretation.  Speaking  at  some  length  of  the 
evils  arising  from  this  mincing  of  the  scriptures  into 
texts  in  preaching,  he  says : 

"But  this  is  not  the  worst  evil  resulting  from  this  art.  It 
gives  birth  to  arbitrary  and  unreasonable  rules  of  interpreta- 
tion which,  so  far  as  they  obtain,  perfectly  disqualify  the 
auditors  from  understanding  anything  they  read  in  the  sacred 
volume."^ 

He  assures  us  that  he  selects  only  such  rules  of  interpre- 
tation as  are  in  use  among  the  most  eminent  critics.^  He 
is  not  blind  to  the  difficulties  which  beset  the  historian 
who  would  give  us  the  true  interpretation  of  the  New 
Testament.  A  clear  idea  of  the  magnitude  of  such  a  task 
is  given  by  Prof.  James  Vernon  Bartlet  :^  "The  historian 
has  to  mediate  between  the  mind  of  his  own  age  and 
the  facts  of  past  ages.  This  task  is  the  harder,  yet  the 
more  needful,  in  proportion  as  the  facts  are  themselves 
of  the  mental  order.  For  such  must  be  seen  first  and 
foremost  through  the  souls  of  men  and  women  in  whom 

1  C.  B.,  p.  443.     2  ch.  Sys.,  p.  16.      3  The  Apostolic  Age,  p.  8. 
(13)  —193— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


they  once  lived,  if  they  are  to  be  other  than  the  mirage  of 
our  own  latter-day  consciousness.  The  historian  of  the 
Apostolic  Age,  then,  has  to  make  live  again  to  the  read- 
er's imagination  the  complex  world  of  thought  and  action 
to  which  primitive  Christian  experience — even  where 
most  under  the  renovating  sway  of  the  New  Message — 
was  largely  relative.  As  surely  as  the  men  of  that  age 
looked  on  the  universe  in  the  light  of  Ptolemaic 
or  geocentric  system,  so  surely  did  they  view  life  all 
around  by  the  aid  of  intellectual  forms,  often  correspond- 
ingly diverse  from  ours.  Here  lies  the  main  difficulty 
for  the  reader  of  the  New  Testament.  He  is  ever  com- 
ing upon  phrases  that  do  not  really  appeal  to  him,  ideas 
that  he  cannot  personally  assimilate,  however  deeply 
in  sympathy  he  may  be  with  the  general  spirit  of  the 
whole  or  even  of  the  special  passage  in  question.  His 
embarrassment  is  just  the  same  as  an  early  Christian 
would  experience  if  confronted  with  a  mediaeval  or  mod- 
ern book  on  religion.  The  background  taken  for  granted, 
because  part  of  the  culture  of  the  age,  is  in  each  case 
unrealized;  the  larger  context  is  lacking.  It  is  this 
which  the  historian  has  to  supply.  He  had,  in  a  word, 
to  make  himself  and  fellows  the  intellectual  contem- 
poraries of  the  men  of  the  story.  In  the  end,  nothing 
shall  seem  strange  or  pointless." 

Mr.  Campbell  had  in  mind  the  importance  of  this  task 
when  he  said : 

"The  first  and  all-important  inquiry  with  me,  in  reading  the 
oracles  of  God,  has  long  been,  is  now,  and,  I  presume,  while  I 
—194— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


live  will  be,  what  were  the  exact  ideas  that  the  writers  of  the 
New  Testament  associated  with  the  terms  which  they  used.'"^ 

Some  of  the  most  important  of  the  critical  rules  which 
would  guide  him  in  this  quest  are,  he  tells  us : 

"A  regard  to  the  grand  design  of  the  whole,  and  to  the  par- 
ticular design  of  each  item  in  the  narrative;"  attendance  upon 
"the  circumstances;"  "character  of  the  writer;"  "circumstances 
of  the  people  addressed;"  "their  peculiar  prejudices,  views  and 
feelings;"  the  writer's  "motives  and  intentions"  in  writing,  etc. 
Moreover,  the  interpreter  must  "apply  the  same  rules  of  in- 
terpretation to  these  compositions  which  he  would  apply  to  any 
other  writings  of  the  same  antiquity."  *  *  *  Furthermore, 
he  says:  "These  writers  do  not  always  aim  at  giving  the  pre- 
cise words  of  those  they  quote,  not  even  of  the  Savior  himself, 
but  only  the  full  and  precise  sense  of  what  was  uttered  or  writ- 
ten. *  *  *  And,  the  order  of  narration  in  these  histories  is 
similar  to  the  Jewish  and  other  ancient  histories,  and  is  not  con- 
ducted according  to  the  modern  plan  of  historic  writings;  con- 
sequently not  so  lucid  to  us,  who  are  accustomed  to  a  greater 
degree  of  precision  in  affixing  dates  to  events  and  transactions, 
as  also  in  describing  the  theaters  on  which  they  happen,  as  his- 
tories conducted  on  our  plan.  We  are  liable  to  err  in  supposing 
that  events  following  each  other  in  close  succession  in  the  thread 
of  narration,  as  immediately  following  each  other  in  time  and 
place,  in  actual  occurrence."  He  then  finds  that  "the  golden  key 
of  interpretation  is  that  we  must  place  ourselves  in  their  circum- 
stances."^ 

In  harmony  with  Prof.  Bartlet's  idea  of  the  historian's 
task,  he  finds  this  no  sniall  iindertaking,  for,  says  Mr. 
Campbell : 

"We  must  place  ourselves  in  Judea,  in  Rome,  or  in  Corinth. 

1  Early  Relation  and  Separation  of  the  Baptists  and  Disciples  (Gates) 
p.  lis.      2  Liv.  Or,,  p.  221. 

—195— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


*  *  *  We  must  mingle  with  the  Jews  in  their  temple  and 
synagogues.  We  must  visit  the  temples  and  altars  of  the  Pagan 
Gentiles.  We  must  converse  with  Epicurean  and  Stoic  phi- 
losophers; with  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  with  priests  and  people 
who  died  centuries  before  we  were  born.  We  must  place  before 
us  manuscript  copies,  written  without  a  break,  a  chapter  or  a 
verse.  We  must  remember  what  the  writers  spoke  to  the  people 
before  they  wrote  to  them.  We  must  not  only  attend  to  what 
they  said  and  wrote,  but  to  what  they  did."^ 

It  is  like  reading  a  letter  from  a  friend,  he  goes  on  to 
point  out.  We  regard  the  date,  place,  occasion,  and  de- 
sign of  the  writer.  And  then,  instead  of  coming  to  the 
writer's  meaning  from  the  detached  sentence,  we  try  to 
feel  the  atmosphere  of  the  whole.  We  view  all  with 
reference  to  the  main  design.  So  he  concludes  that  the 
same  common  sense  is  required  to  understand  scripture 
as  we  use  in  understanding  all  our  epistolary  communi- 
cations. 

Herein  is  the  immense  value  of  Biblical  criticism.  It 
is  the  handmaid  that  enters  into  all  departments  of  knowl- 
edge and  comes  back  to  scripture  ladened  with  every  pos- 
sible fact  that  will  make  the  writer's  true  meaning  stand 
out. 

Nor  was  Mr.  Campbell  unaware  of  the  spurious  read- 
ings and  interpolations  which  have  crept  into  the  text  of 
Scripture.  Following  the  critic  Micliaelis,  he  points 
out  the  causes  of  these  errors  to  be  from  (IJ 
"Carelessness  of  the  transcribers;"  (2)  "mistakes  of 
transcribers;"  (3)  ''errors  or  imperfections  in  the  ancient 

1  Uv.  Or.,  p.  42. 

—196— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


manuscript  from  which  the  transcriber  copied;"*  (4) 
"critical  conjectures,  or  intended  improvements  of  the 
original  text;"  (5)  'Villful  corruptions  to  serve  the  pur- 
poses of  a  party,  whether  orthodox  or  heterodox^" 

Yet,  after  considering  all  these  errors,  he  is  amazed 
that  they  are  so  few,  in  view  of  the  long  time  and  the 
many  hands  being  engaged  in  their  transmission.  He  is 
further  able  to  make  this  candid  estimate: 

"No  fact,  no  cardinal  truth  of  Christianity,  is  in  the  least  af- 
fected, admitting  every  word  found  in  the  following  table  to  be 
rejected  with  the  unanimous  concurrence  of  Christendom."^ 

This  is  in  substantial  agreement  with  the  distinguished 
critic,  Prof.  Charles  A.  Briggs,  who,  like  Mr.  Campbell, 
having  sifted  the  whole  matter,  can  say  :^  "The  Bible  has 
maintained  its  authority  with  the  best  scholars  of  our 
time,  who,  with  open  minds,  have  been  willing  to  recog- 
nize any  error  that  might  be  pointed  out  by  historical 
criticism;  for  these  errors  are  all  in  circumstantials  and 
not  in  essentials;  they  are  in  the  human  setting  and  not 
in  the  precious  jewel  itself;  they  are  found  in  that  sec- 
tion of  the  Bible  that  theologians  commonly  account  for 
from  the  providential  superintendence  of  the  mind  of  the 
author  as  distinguished  from  divine  revelation."'' 

Why  should  we  allow  the  human  imperfections  of  the 
Bible  to  alarm  us?  Do  we  not  expect  to  find  always  our 
diamonds  in  the  rough?  And  is  not  a  jewel  found  in  the 
mud  a  jewel  still?    All  perfection  comes  from  imperfec- 

1  Uv.  Or.,  p.  326.      2  History  of  Christian  Doctrine  (Fisher),  p.  549. 
3  c.  f.  Also  Reconstruction  in  Theol.  (King),  p.  128. 

—197— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


tions.  The  sculptor  catches  mistakes,  striking  out  here 
and  rounding  out  there,  until  the  perfect  statue  stands 
before  him.  This,  too,  is  God's  method.  All  creation 
witnesses  to  the  fact.  Not  in  a  minute  did  he  create  the 
world,  or  make  man.  They  are  still  in  the  making.  Man 
is  becoming,  and  not  perfect  yet!  Look  at  that  rose 
hanging  there  so  red  and  fragrant!  For  ages  God  has 
been  bringing  it  to  its  present  perfection.  And  it  still 
has  much  more  of  loveliness  to  disclose  which  as  yet  we 
know  not  of.  Some  far-off  future  generations  shall  see 
it  richer  still.  Man,  too,  is  still  in  the  making.  We  know 
what  he  was  and  what  he  is,  but  it  does  not  yet  appear 
what  he  shall  be.  Do  we  forget  that  God's  revelation 
is  progressive?  From  stage  to  stage  does  he  become 
known,  and  always  through  things  humble  and  crude 
in  men's  eyes.  What,  shall  we  let  the  formal  errors  in 
the  Bible  awe  us  ?  What  good  is  there  that  comes  not  so 
to  man?  The  food  we  thrive  on  comes  packed  in  husks. 
The  pure  air  we  breathe,  the  glorious  sunshine  we  ab- 
sorb, the  reviving  water  we  drink,  and  what  not —  all 
come  enveloped  in  imperfection.  And  love  and  truth  and 
beauty,  the  abiding  realities  of  life,  have  their  human  set- 
ting. Are  they  any  less  true?  Should  they  seem  less 
real?  Because  the  voice  of  God  speaks  to  us  in  human 
events  and  human  lives,  shall  we  turn  from  the  record? 
Because  the  gem  comes  to  us  in  its  natural  imperfect 
human  setting,  shall  we  close  our  eyes  to  its  luster  ?  The 
Bible's  human  imperfection  in  reality  bespeaks  its  divin- 
ity.   God  is  always  revealing  himself  through  imperfect 

_198_ 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


things.    The  richest  disclosure  of  His  character  which 
reveals  his  justice,  mercy,  love,  and  righteousness  comes 
through  the  human.    It  is  His  method.    Earthen  vessels 
become  His  chosen  instruments  of  self-revelation.  Ever 
was  He  speaking  in  the  imperfect  prophets.  Yet  His  voice 
was  heard.    And  there  was  no  alloy  in  the  divine  mes- 
sage.  When  he  would  make  the  fullest  and  highest  reve- 
lation of  himself  to  man  he  does  not  disassociate  it  from 
the  human.    On  the  contrary,  he  chooses,  for  his  Son, 
a  human  embodiment.   Born  of  a  human  mother,  he  took 
the  "form  of  a  servant,  being  made  in  the  likeness  of 
men."    And  when  his  Son  would  hand  on  to  the  world 
the  wonderful  story  of  divine  love,  he  writes  no  word, 
but  commits  the  sacred  deposit  to  earthen  vessels.  How 
should  we  expect  to  find  the  revealed  God  unlikened  to 
anything  of  the  earth?    Such  a  scheme  would  be  unnat- 
ural, unreal,  impossible  of  understanding,  unlike  divine 
procedure.    There  is  no  divine  way,  or,  more  properly, 
the  divine  way  is  the  human  way.    There  is  no  divine 
language.    The  human  language  is  the  divine  language. 
And  with  equal  truth  and  propriety  we  may  say,  there  is 
no  divine  man.    The  divine  men  are  the  human  men. 
Even  when  God  would  show  the  world  the  perfection 
of  his  character  and  set  in  the  midst  a  model  for  all 
time,  he  sent  not  to  earth  a  purely  divine  angel,  but  chose 
his  own  Son,  who  became  flesh  in  the  likeness  of  men. 
Born  of  a  human  mother,  he  linked  himself  to  earth.  And 
here  among  men,  in  fashion  as  a  man,  he  came  into  life, 
grew  up,  lived,  and  completed  his  task  under  the  category 

—199— 


Alexand&r  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


of  a  human.  Jesus  was  not  exclusively  divine.  He  was 
not  only  Son  of  God,  but  son  of  man. 

We  haze  queer  ideas  of  what  is  divine  and  what  is 
human,  of  what  is  sacred  and  what  is  secular,  and  of 
what  is  perfect  and  what  is  imperfect.  The  old  meta- 
physical distinctions  still  rule  our  brains.  But  the  atmos- 
phere is  clearing  and  the  day  of  more  wholesome  concep- 
tions is  gradually  dawning.  The  reformation  is  in  splendid 
progress.  When  it  shall  have  fully  come  all  shall 
see  God  everywhere,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest, 
from  the  most  materialistic  to  the  most  idealistic.  Then 
God  and  the  Bible  will  not  seem  so  unreal.  The  complete- 
ly personal  God  and  the  partially  personal  man  will  meet 
together  and  commune  at  the  human  shrine  in  the  Bible. 

Dr.  King  gives  utterance  to  this  much  overlooked  fact  •} 
"The  Bible  itself  warrants  no  view  which  ignores  the 
human  and  progressive  element  in  the  Bible,  or  looks  on 
all  its  parts  as  of  equal  divinity  and  value.  Dr.  George 
Adam  Smith  probably  does  not  overstate  the  truth  when 
he  says  that  if  one  person  is  likely  to  suffer  shipwreck 
through  the  employment  of  the  higher  criticism,  the  faith 
of  ten  will  break  down — is  breaking  down — for  lack  of 
the  very  help  it  would  bring." 

Dr.  Marcus  Dods  quotes  Dr.  Small  as  saying:^ 

"The  man  who  binds  up  the  cause  of  Christianity  with 
the  literal  accuracy  of  the  Bible  is  no  friend  of  Christian- 
ity, for  with  the  rejection  of  that  theory  too  often  comes 

1  Reconstruction  in  Theology.,  p.  116. 

2  The  Bible:  Its  Origin  and  Nature,  p.  141. 

—200— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


the  rejection  of  the  Bible  itself,  and  faith  is  shattered." 
Dr.  Dods  then  says '}  "In  Renan's  case  this  was  the 
result.  He  tells  us  in  his  'Recollections'  that  he  had  been 
brought  up  in  the  belief  that  it  was  essential  to  the  ortho- 
dox doctrine  of  scripture  to  accept  it  as  inerrant  in  every 
line.  When  he  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  history  of 
Israel,  he  soon  discovered  that  such  a  claim  was  unten- 
able, and,  accordingly,  parted  company  with  the  Chuich. 
So,  too,  Charles  Bradlaugh,  from  an  ingenious  and  in- 
quiring youth  was  turned  into  a  bitter  opponent  of  the 
faith  because  a  kind  of  faith  in  Scripture  was  demanded 
of  him  which  he  could  not  honestly  give.  The  whole 
force  of  Ingersoll's  arguments,  by  means  of  which  he 
turned  hundreds  from  Christianity,  depends  on  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  literal  and  total  infallibility  of  scripture. 
Given  a  true  view  of  scripture,  his  whole  contention  falls 
to  the  ground." 

This  is  just  what  gave  Mr.  Campbell  such  power  and 
victory  in  debate  ivith  infidels.  They  met  him  with  the 
impression  that  he  would  be  loaded  from  the  old  orthodox 
standpoint,  while  he  came  into  the  arena  with  the  Bible 
understood  and  interpreted  by  the  best  methods  afforded 
by  the  world  of  critical  scholarship.  He  tells  us  that  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one,  as  he  became  identified  with  the 
ministry,  he 

"discovered  that  the  religion  of  the  New  Testament  was  one 
thing,  and  that  of  any  sect  which  I  knew  was  another." 

"But  I  go  upon  this  principle,  that  the  heart  is  not  cured  by  a 
charm,  nor  to  be  purified  by  false  notions."- 

1  The  Bible:  Its  Origin  and  Nature,  p.  141.      2  C.  B.,  p.  660f. 

—201— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


'■'I  am  under  no  necessity  to  pilot  through  the  storm,  the  opin- 
ions, fancies,  or  by-laws  of  any  sect.  It  is  the  religion  of  the 
Bible,  and  that  alone,  I  am  concerned  to  prove  to  be  divine."^ 

"If  our  most  pure,  holy  and  heavenly  religion  can  be  defended, 
supported,  inculcated  and  diffused  by  no  other  weapons  than  in 
locks,  swords  and  faggots,  I  wish  not  to  be  in  the  rear  or  van  of 
its  advocates.  No,  on  our  banners  is  inscribed,  reason,  argument, 
persuasion."^ 

In  declining  the  challenge  to  debate  J.  S.  Sweeny,  Rob- 
ert Ingersoll  said:  will  not  take  'Mr.  Sweeny  as  a 
representative  of  the  clerg)-,  because  he  does  not  repre- 
sent them.  He  is  a  'Campbellite/  and  these  people  propa- 
gate nothing  but  Jesus  Christ  as  their  guide.  I  have  no 
particular  objection  to  Jesus  Christ.  If  you  want  me  to 
debate  with  a  representative  of  the  clergy,  procure  a  man 
that  has  a  creed,  and  I  will  answer  him.''* 

In  coming  to  the  Bible  as  ^Ir.  Campbell  did,  critically, 
L  e.,  intelligently,  purposing  to  take  it  for  what  it  is  and 
what  it  purports  to  be,  and  not  what  reverent  ignorance 
and  unlearned  mysticism  imagine  it  to  be,  he  had  no  fear 
that  anything  of  truth  would  be  lost  or  anything  of  the 
divine  would  fail  of  being  disclosed.  On  the  contrary, 
this  acceptance  of  the  Bible  as  literature,  with  its  hu- 
man elements  laid  bare,  was  seen  to  be  God's  objective 
method  of  meeting  man  subjectively.  The  Bible  was  but 
a  means  to  an  end — through  the  medium  of  language  God 
and  man  coming  together.  And  this  language  is  human 
language,  even  as  he  says : 

"The  inspired  men  dehvered  supernatural  communications  in 

1  C.  B.,  p.  552.      2  Ibid.,  p.  344.      3  The  Centennial  Camp.  Fire,  p.  57. 

— 202 — 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


their  own  peculiar  modes  of  expressing  themselves.  *  *  *  jj^ 
other  words,  their  own  judgment  or  taste  in  the  selection  of 
terms  was  not  suspended  by  the  new  language.  *  *  *  (They) 
chose  such  as,  in  their  judgment,  would  most  clearly  and  forcibly 
reveal  the  mind  of  the  spirit  to  their  hearers.  *  *  *  From 
what  they  have  spoken  and  written  we  are  authorized  to  think 
that  they  were  as  free  in  the  selection  of  words  and  phrases  as  I 
am  in  endeavoring  to  communicate  my  views  of  their  inspira- 
tion."^ 

Instead  of  disparaging  the  Bible  in  his  eyes,  it  rather 
enhanced  it,  as  he  suggests : 

"One  of  the  internal  evidences  of  the  truth  of  the  Apostolic 
writings  is,  that  each  has  something  peculiar  to  himself.  So  has 
every  speaker  and  teacher  that  has  appeared  among  men. 
Jesus  Christ  himself  had  his  peculiar  characteristics."^ 

This  recognition  of  the  personal  equation  in  Biblical 
writers  was  one  of  the  mighty  triumphs  of  the  critical 
method  over  the  mystical.  Men  are  active,  not  passive. 
Their  eyes  are  opened,  not  shut.  They  are  strong  per- 
sonalities, not  weak  imbeciles. 

Principal  Fairbairn  utters  a  strong  word  on  this 
point  :^ 

"The  new  historical  and  literary  spirit  has  produced  a 
more  detailed  and  skillful  handling  of  the  thought  or 
intellectual  content  of  the  literature.  The  sacred  writ- 
ers are  not  nov/  dealt  with  as  if  their  personalities  had 
been  merged  into  one  colossal  individuality,  and  as  if 
the  very  composite  material  they  had  created  were  a 

1  Bapt.,p.  52.  2  D.  onR.  C,  p.  83  (c.  f.  also  Alexander  Campbell  and 
Christian  Liberty) ,  p.  106.    3  The  place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theology,  p.  292f. 

—203— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


single  work,  which  could  be  interpreted  and  quoted  as 
a  homogeneous  whole.  The  new  insight  into  the  char- 
acters, histories,  circumstances,  succession  of  the  writers, 
has  necessitated  a  distinct  and  special  treatment  of  their 
minds  and  words,  which  has,  as  notably  in  the  case  of 
Paul,  enabled  us  to  measure  and  register  the  change  and 
expansion  of  their  thought.  'Biblical  Theology'  means 
now  the  theology  of  the  Bible,  not  of  the  creeds  and 

schools  Hebrews  and  John,  Peter  and  James, 

have  been  similarly  treated  and  explained,  and  we  can 
now  look  at  the  thought  of  the  New  Testament  in  its 
constituent  parts,  in  its  historical  succession,  and  as  a 
complete,  if  not  organic,  whole." 

There  has  been  much  progress  in  Biblical  investiga- 
tion since  ]\Ir.  Campbell's  day.  This  is  just  what  he  fore- 
saw, expected,  and  desired.  When  speaking  about  get- 
ting away  from  his  past  moorings  to  scholastic  and  Cal- 
vinistic  influences,  and  he  felt  that  the  passing  of  the  old 
and  the  incoming  of  the  new  "was  as  gradual  as  the  ap- 
proaches of  spring,"  he  said: 

"Little  is  done,  it  is  true,  compared  with  what  is  yet  to  be  done; 
but  that  little  is  a  great  deal  compared  with  the  opposition  made, 
and  the  shortness  of  the  time  in  which  it  has  been  done.  He 
that  sails  against  both  wind  and  tide  sails  slowly,  and  if  he  ad- 
vances at  all  it  must  be  by  great  exertion  of  the  mariners.  The 
storm  now  rages  more  than  at  any  former  period;  but  the  cur- 
rent is  more  favorable.  The  winds  of  doctrine  are  raging  upon 
the  great  sea;  but  they  are  continually  shifting,  and,  though  we 
mav  be  tossed  and  driven  sometimes  out  of  our  course,  the  vessel 

—204— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


is  good,  the  Pilot  the  most  skillful,  so  we  cannot  fear  to  reach 
the  desired  haven. 

Mr.  Campbell's  optimism  was  sublime.  He  never 
feared  the  candid  examination  of  truth.  In  such  a  task 
he  finds  noble  companionship.   He  says: 

"This  fearlessness  of  consequences,  this  eager  desire  of  ex- 
amination, this  courting  of  contradiction,  is  the  most  prominent 
feature  in  the  character  of  all  the  original  witnesses  who  attest 
the  evangelical  story."^ 

"The  truth  of  God  and  the  religion  of  the  Bible  never  yet 
gained  advantage,  but  on  all  occasions,  sustained  injury,  from 
falsehood  and  lies  employed  in  its  defense."' 

The  sectarians  to  him  were  those  who  turned  from  the 
truth  of  things  and  shut  themselves  up  in  the  darkness 
of  their  own  narrow  minds.   He  says : 

"The  world — I  mean  the  Christian  communities — are  tired  of 
sectarianism;  light  is  rapidly  progressing;  the  true  nature  of  the 
Christian  institution  is  beginning  to  be  understood,  and  all  the 
signs  of  the  times  indicate  the  approach,  the  near  approach,  of 
this  happy  era."^ 

The  critical  problems  gave  him  no  undue  alarm.  About 
certain  problems  in  which  no  satisfactory  conclusions  had 
been  reached,  he  says : 

"It  is  not  necessary  that  we  should  be  able  to  prove  the  author- 
ship of  every  particular  piece  composing  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments to  prove  their  authenticity."^ 

He  then  quotes  Bishop  Watson,  who  shows  the  idea  "anony- 
mous, and  therefore  without  authority,"  to  be  unreasonable  and 
untrue.    Mr.  Campbell,  then,  for  an  example,  cites  the  Book  of 

1  C.  B.,  p.  661.      2  Evi„  p.  284,      3  ibid.      4  Elvi.,  p.  351.      5  Ibid,,  p.  353f. 
—205— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


Job  as  having  no  author's  name  attached,  yet  this  does  invalidate 
its  contents.    He  also  alludes  to  "the  burial  of  Moses,  and  other 
such  additions  made  to  some  books  in  the  Old  Testament." 
But,  says  he : 

"When  I  hear  of  interpolations  and  contradictions,  I  think  of 
the  Honorable  Soame  Jenyus,  once  a  skeptic.  He  had  concluded 
to  publish  a  work  against  the  Christian  religion;  but,  thinking 
that  he  ought  to  be  well  acquainted  with  its  fables  and  ab- 
surdities before  he  ventured  to  appear  before  the  public,  he  de- 
termined to  make  himself  well  acquainted  with  the  contents  of 
the  book.  But  he  soon  found  good  reasons  to  reform  his  plan; 
and,  instead  of  furnishing  a  work  against  the  Christian  religion, 
he  gave  to  the  world  a  short  and  unanswerable  treatise  upon  the 
truth  and  authenticity  of  it.  This  treatise  on  the  'Internal  Evi- 
dence' is  written  in  a  masterly  style,  and  with  a  boldness  which 
nothing  but  the  assurance  of  faith  could  inspire.  He  makes  the 
following  bold  assertion,  which  many  would  think  is  going  too 
far :  'For  I  will  venture  to  affirm  that  if  any  one  could  prove, 
what  is  possible  to  be  proved,  because  it  is  not  true,  that  there 
are  errors  in  geography,  chronology,  and  philosophy,  in  every 
page  of  the  Bible ;  that  the  prophesies  therein  delivered  are  all 
but  fortunate  guesses,  or  artful  applications,  and  the  miracles 
there  recorded  no  better  than  legendary  tales;  if  any  one  could 
show  these  books  were  never  written  by  their  pretended  authors, 
but  were  posterior  impositions  on  illiterate  and  credulous  ages, 
all  these  wonderful  discoveries  would  prove  no  more  than  this : 
that  God,  for  reasons  to  us  unknown,  had  thought  proper  to  per- 
mit a  revelation  by  him  communicated  to  mankind,  to  be  mixed 
with  their  ignorance  and  corrupted  by  their  frauds  from  its 
earliest  infancy,  in  the  same  manner  in  which  he  has  visibly  per- 
mitted it  to  be  mixed  and  corrupted  from  that  period  to  the 
present  hour.  If,  in  these  books,  a  religion,  superior  to  all 
human  imagination,  actually  exists,  it  is  of  no  consequence  to 
the  proof  of  its  divine  origin,  by  what  means  it  was  there  in- 

—206— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


i^oduced,  or  n'ith  what  human  errors  and  imperfections  it  is 
blended.  A  diamond,  though  found  in  a  bed  of  mud,  is  still  a 
diamond,  nor  can  the  dirt,  which  surrounds  it,  depreciate  its 
value  or  destroy  its  lustre."^ 

In  thus  coming  to  the  Bible  as  it  really  is,  criticism  has 

made  a  decided'  gain  over  the  old  orthodox  idea.  Its 
divine  authority  rests  not  upon  its  being  a  book  free  from 
error,  but  rather  on  its  being  a  human  composition  whose 
writers  were  impelled  by  God's  spirit,  the  very  method 
God  has  chosen  to  disclose  himself  to  men. 

In  fact,  the  Bible  was  never  intended  by  God  to  make 
man  wise  unto  all  wisdom,  but  only  unto  God's  true  na- 
ture and  the  salvation  of  man's  soul.  Failure  to  observe 
this  fact  has  resulted  most  disastrously.  While  it  has 
made,  on  the  one  hand,  "men  of  one  Book,"  on  the  other 
hand,  it  has  made  wholesale,  woeful  ignorance.  Says  Mr. 
Campbell : 

This  whole  book  was  gotten  up  for  the  express  purpose  of 

impressing  upon  man  a  true  appreciation  of  his  moral  relation."^ 
"The  great  God  has  condescended  to  teach  but  one  science,  and 
that  is  the  science  of  religion,  or  the  knowledge  of  himself  and 
of  man,  in  all  his  relations,  as  his  creature.  He  has  taught  but 
one  art,  and  that  is  the  art  of  living  well  in  relation  to  all  the 
high  ends  and  destinies  of  man.  Now  the  Bible  contains  this 
science  and  teaches  this  art  in  the  same  perfection  which  its 
author  exhibits  in  all  his  works."^ 

The  trouble  with  men  has  been  that  when  they  wanted 
to  see  the  stars,  they  have  looked  into  their  Bible  instead 
of  in  the  heavens,  where  the  stars  are.    For  their  ge- 

1  Evi.,  p.  355f.    (Italics  author's.)    2  i,ect.  on  Pent.,  p.  202.     3  c.  B.,  p.  2S9. 
—207— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Chnsfiav.  Liberty. 


ology  they  have  gone  to  their  Bible  instead  of  to  the  rocks 
with  their  fossils. 

Mr.  Campbell  feels  the  force  of  this  fact  when  he 
says : 

'  The  Bible  offers  no  theories  of  astronomy,  geology,  chemistry 
or  mental  philosophy.  It  fears  nothing,  however,  from  the  de- 
velopments of  the  sciences  of  matter  or  of  mind.  Ignorance  of 
nature,  of  the  Bible  and  of  true  science  led  the  Pope  and  his 
ecclesiastics  to  denounce  all  the  leading  scientific  innovations 
upon  ancient  opinions,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  unfriendly 
to  religion  and  would  finally  destroy  the  credibility  of  the  Bible. 
But  a  better  knowledge  of  nature  and  of  the  Bible  has  shown 
that  there  is  no  discord  or  contradiction  in  their  testimonies."^ 

Dr.  Fisher  quotes  this  important  declaration  from  the 
address  (1891  j  of  Lewis  F.  Stearns:^  "We  are  coming 
more  clearly  to  understand  the  great  purpose  of  the 
Bible  ;  namely,  to  bring  the  church  and  the  individual, 
of  all  ages,  into  vital  contact  with  the  historic  facts,  the 
divine  truth,  and  the  spiritual  power  of  Christiantiy ;  and 
so  to  discern  what  is  essential  and  non-essential  for  the 
attainment  of  that  purpose.  We  are  most  of  us  ready 
to  admit  that  false  standards  have  been  set  up,  that  an 
infallibility  in  non-essentials  has  been  demanded,  which 
the  Bible  never  claims,  and  which,  if  it  existed,  would 
render  it  less  fitted  for  its  end.  We  are  beginning  to 
see  that  we  may  grant  that  the  sacred  writers  were  not 
scientific  historians,  not  philosophers  or  men  of  science, 
not  experts  in  the  methods  of  scientific  exegesis  or  of 

1  Ad(i..  p.  477.      2  History  of  Christian  Doctrine,  p.  548. 

—208— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


literary  criticism,  and  yet  rest  firm  in  our  conviction  that 
they  were  so  directed  by  the  supernatural  influence  of 
God's  Spirit  as  to  give  us  the  perfect  rule  of  faith  and 
life." 

This  is  the  same  sentiment  that  Mr.  Campbell  is  strug- 
gling to  express  in  the  light  afforded  by  the  half  century 
previous.    He  says : 

"When  we  take  into  view  the  object  proposed,  in  giving  to 
the  world  the  Bible,  we  have  got  into  the  possession  of  more  than 
half  the  secret.  And  what  was  this?  It  will  be  said,  the  il- 
lumination of  the  world.  But  in  reference  to  some  end?  As- 
suredly in  reference  to  some  end;  for,  without  this  end  in  view, 
there  could  be  no  selection  of  items  or  topics  on  which  to  ad- 
dress men.  God  has  not  disclosed  the  principles  of  astronomy  or 
navigation  in  any  part  of  his  revelation;  yet  if  the  object  of  his 
revelation  had  been  the  mere  illumination  of  the  mind  on  sub- 
jects hitherto  unknown,  the  systems  and  laws  of  astronomy  or 
chemistry  would  have  been  in  times  past  a  proper  subject  of 
revelation.  But  it  is  not  the  mere  illumination  of  the  mind 
which  constituted  a  primary  object  in  any  communication  from 
God  to  man."^ 

"It  is  not,  then,  a  treatise  on  man  as  he  was,  nor  on  man  as  he 
will  be;  but  on  man  as  he  is  and  as  he  ought  to  be;  not  as  he 
is  physically,  astronomically,  geologically,  politically  or  meta- 
physically ;  but  as  he  is  and  ought  to  be,  morally  and  religiously."^ 

"It  instructs  us  in  all  our  natural,  moral,  political  and  re- 
ligious relations.  Though  it  teaches  us  not  astronomy,  medi- 
cine, chemistry,  mathematics,  architecture,  it  gives  us  all  the 
knowledge  which  adorns  and  dignifies  our  moral  nature  and  fits 
us  for  happiness."^ 

The  shipwrecks  of  faith  that  occur  do  not  happen  any 

1  C.  B.,  p.  246.      2  Ch  Sys.,  p.  15.      3  ibid.,  p.  303. 
(14)  —209— 


'Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


more  from  the  fact  that  criticism  has  turned  the  Hght  o£ 
truth  upon  the  Bible  than  because  men's  previous  ideas 
about  the  Bible  were  false.  The  real  blame  falls  not 
upon  the  truth-bringers,  the  candles  of  the  Lord,  but 
rather  upon  those  who  put  the  false  ideas  into  the  minds 
of  men;  ideas  which  they  come  to  see  as  false  and 
which  must  of  necessity  be  unlearned.  Mr.  Campbell 
tests  the  rationality  of  this  system  of  giving  up  the  Bible 
because  of  former  errors.  He  answers  the  "Inquirer," 
saying : 

"The  sum  of  his  first  number  is,  that  he  was  once  a  true  be- 
liever in  revelation,  and  that  he  is  now  a  true  unbeliever;  and 
the  reason  he  gives  for  being  an  unbeliever  is  that  he  'could  not 
help  finding  traces  of  ignorance  in  the  Scriptures.'  *  *  *  At 
this  discovery  his  faith  exploded.  But  what  was  the  ignorance 
he  could  not  help  finding?  This  is  the  question.  Would  yoM 
laugh  if  I  told  you  it  was  this?  He  discovered  that  Moses  was 
ignorant  of  the  art  of  steamboat  building!!  *  *  *  His  start- 
ing point  is  this :  'The  ancients  had  no  correct  knowledge  either 
of  astronomy  or  natural  history,  and  the  writers  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, if  they  he  not  inspired,  may  be  expected  to  exhibit  such 
misconceptions  on  those  subjects  as  we  know  to  have  char- 
acterized the  age  in  which  they  lived.'  *  *  *  i^^^  now  state 
the  counterpart  of  his  position  in  his  own  style :  The  ancients 
had  no  correct  knowledge  either  of  astronomy  or  of  natural  his- 
tory; and  the  writers  of  the  Bible,  if  they  be  inspired,  must  be 
expected  to  exhibit  such  conceptions  on  these  subjects  as  we 
know  not  to  have  characterized  the  age  in  which  they  lived — 
and  thus  have  rendered  themselves  incredible,  I  say.  For,  should 
a  man  pretend  to  wr4te  the  history  of  the  first  settlement  of 
Virginia,  and  tell  us  about  their  navigating  the  James  River  in 
steamboats,  two  centuries  ago,  and  pretend  that  he  lived  at  that 

—210— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


time,  he  would  destroy  the  credibility-  of  his  own  work.  And  so 
*Mr.  Inquirer  would  have  had  Moses  to  have  exhibited,  'if  in- 
spired,' conceptions  of  astronomy  and  natural  history  as  we 
know  did  not  characterize  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  This  is 
the  honest  frontispiece  of  'all  that  ignorance  he  could  not  help 
finding  in  the  Bible.' 

"In  the  first  step  the  'Inquirer'  made  the  following  errors  are 
adopted  as  axioms  of  undoubted  truth : 

1.  That  men  inspired  to  teach  religion  should  be  inspired 
with  the  knowledge  of  all  natural  science. 

2.  That  to  render  a  witness  credible  on  one  subject,  it  is 
necessary  that  he  should  speak  our  views  on  every  conceivable 
topic. 

3.  That  a  writer  who  wrote  three  thousand  years  ago  should 
adopt  a  style  of  writing  and  exhibit  views  of  things  not  known 
or  entertained  by  any  people  on  earth  for  a  thousand  years 
after  he  died,  in  order  to  make  his  narrative  credible,  *  * 
No  wonder  this  gentleman  ceased  to  be  a  true  believer  in  the 
Bible.  *  *  *  J  would  not  give  a  pin  for  an  arithmetical  de- 
fense of  the  size  or  of  the  contents  of  Noah's  ark,  nor  for  an 
astronomical  explanation  of  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation, 
to  confute  or  refute  the  puerile  cavils  of  any  conceited  skeptic; 
while  I  can,  by  a  single  impulse  of  my  great  toe,  kick  from 
under  him  the  stool  on  which  he  sits,  astride  the  mighty  gulf, 
the  fathomless  abyss,  whence  he  cannot  rise  by  all  the  imple- 
ments and  tacklings  in  the  great  magazine  of  skeptical  re- 
sources."^ 

In  taking  such  a  position,  that  the  divinity  of  the  Bible 
is  not  vested  in  its  human  structure,  and  that  its  authority 
and  appeal  are  not  incident  upon  its  being  a  text-book  on 
science,  Mr.  Campbell  was  not  only  able  triumph- 
antly to  meet  all  the  skeptics  of  his  day,  but  he  found 

1  C.  B.,p.  3S7f. 

—211— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


himself  in  the  right  attitude  for  God's  self-disclosure 
through  the  medium  of  the  Bible. 

That  he  was  far  beyond  his  times  is  evident.  An  idea 
of  the  background  of  his  labors  may  be  gained  when  one 
takes  into  consideration  that  during  his  agitation  for  bet- 
ter things,  such  men  as  Prof.  Leonard  Woods  of  the  The- 
ological Seminary  at  Andover  were  teaching  an  "Inspira- 
tion so  operated  as  to  make  the  Bible  a  book  free  from 
all  error."  Thus  his  doctrine  of  inspiration  is  plenary. 
The  argument  is  wholly  from  the  claims  of  the  Bible 
itself,  and  this  never  seems  to  Woods  to  be,  what  it  is, 
a  begging  of  the  whole  question.^ 

Or,  let  Dr.  Tholuck,  of  the  German  Lutheran  Church, 
state  the  popular  esteem  in  which  the  Bible  is  held:  "In 
this  manner  arose,  amongst  both  Lutheran  and  Reformed 
divines,  not  earlier,  strictly  speaking,  than  the  seventeenth 
century,  those  sentiments  concerning  Holy  Scripture 
which  regarded  it  as  the  infallible  production  of  the  Di- 
vine Spirit,  not  merely  in  its  religions,  but  in  its  entire 
contents;  and  not  merely  in  its  contents,  but  also  in  its 
very  form  ....  it  was  taught  that  the  writers  of 
the  Bible  were  to  be  regarded  as  writing-pens  wielded 
by  the  hand  of  God,  and  amanuenses  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
who  dictated,  whom  God  used  as  the  flute-player  does 
his  instrument;  not  only  the  sense,  but  also  the  words, 
and  not  these  merely,  but  even  the  letters,  and  zozvel- 
points,  which  in  Hebrew  are  written  under  the  conso- 
nants— according  to  some,  the  very  punctuation — pro- 

1  A  History  of  New  England  Theology'  (Frank  Hugh  Foster),  p.  358. 
— 212  


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 

ceeded  from  God."^  Clovius  taught:  "It  is  impious  and 
profane  to  change  a  single  point  in  the  word  of  God,  and 
to  substitute  a  smooth  breathing  for  a  rough  one,  or  a 
rough  for  a  sm,ooth."^  Mr.  Campbell,  in  speaking  of 
the  original  non-division  of  the  Bible  into  chapters,  verses, 
etc.,  says : 

"There  is  no  more  divinity  in  the  chapters,  verses,  commas, 
semicolons  and  periods  of  the  inspired  writings  than  there  is 
in  the  paper  on  which  they  are  inscribed,  or  in  the  ink  by  which 
they  are  depicted  to  our  view."' 

"As  the  human  body  to  the  soul,  so  is  the  word  of  God  to  his 
volition.  His  word  is  but  the  vehicle  through  which  his  creative 
power  manifests  itself.  It  is  the  mere  form  or  embodiment  of 
his  volition — the  annunciation  of  his  purpose.  God  always  works 
by  means,  never  without  them.  The  means,  indeed,  are  but  the 
envelope  of  his  will."* 

This  human  envelope  is  a  necessary  means  for  com- 
munication between  souls.  In  fact,  one  has  not  really 
expressed  himself  until  he  avails  himself  of  tlws  means. 
"As  a  work  of  art  cannot  be  a  full,  harmonious  truth 
until  it  has  been  completed  in  marble  or  bronze,  and  as  a 
conception  in  the  artist's  imagination  is  but  a  disjointed 
and  fragmentary  beauty,  so  for  mankind  language  is  the 
universal  plastic  material  in  which  alone  they  elaborate 
their  surging  ideas  into  thought."^ 

But  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  soul  behind  the  ex- 
pression. The  Divine  Being  must  not  be  confounded 
with  the  language  that  seeks  to  express  him.    May  we 

1  The  New  Appreciation  of  the  Bible  (Selleck),  p.  160.      2  ibid.,  p.  S5. 
3  Bapt.,  p.  60.      4  Ibid.,  p.  90.      5  Lotze,  Microscomus,  Vol.  I,  p,  638, 
—213— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


not  forget  that  he  is  much  more  than  all  terms  used  in 
revealing  him.  God  and  Christ  are  more  than  the  Bible, 
in  so  far  as  the  content  is  greater  than  the  term ;  the 
personal  greater  than  the  impersonal. 

What  is  the  term?  And  what  is  the  content  of  a 
term?  Take  the  term  "law."  What  is  law?  Did  you 
ever  see  a  law?  What  are  its  features?  How  does  it 
look?  What  is  it  essentially?  You  mention  that  law 
which  the  city  council  made  last  week.  'Tis  posted 
everywhere  about  the  city  that  the  citizens  may  read  and 
obey.  But  where  is  that  law?  WTiere  does  it  exist? 
Not  on  the  posters  reading,  'Thou  shalt  not.'  Not  in  the 
word  spelt  L-A-W.  This  term  is  only  the  thought  con- 
veyance. The  law  itself,  its  essential  reality,  is,  no  more 
nor  less,  than  the  will  of  the  community.  They  take  hold 
of  a  common  term,  mutually  understood,  in  order  to  com- 
municate the  feeling  of  their  wills  to  every  other  person 
in  the  community.  It  is  soul  communicating  with  soul 
by  the  use  of  a  word  between  them.  We  may  learn  the 
law  and  even  obey  it  to  the  very  letter,  yet  be  ignorant 
of  the  soul  that  willed  it. 

So  it  is  when  we  come  to  the  Bible.  It  is  not  altogether 
a  matter  of  words  and  terms  and  phrases,  this  Kingdom 
of  God.  These  are  there,  it  is  true,  not  to  be  worshipped, 
but  to  be  understood.  That  law  of  God  exists  not  in  the 
paper  and  ink,  nor  in  the  word.  It  is  but  the  sign.  The 
sign  of  an  idea?  Yes,  but  more.  That  law  is  the  per- 
sonal will  of  God.  So  of  love,  and  holiness,  and  mercy, 
and  righteousness,  and  all  the  rest.    The  reality  exists 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


in  personal  souls.  These  words,  all  of  them,  are  mere  in- 
struments ;  call  them  carts  if  you  like,  to  convey  the  feel- 
ing of  the  great  soul  of  God  to  the  souls  of  his  children. 
Do  not,  then,  try  to  find  the  spirit  in  the  impersonal  let- 
ters. These,  understand,  have  such  a  firm  grasp  of  their 
conceptions  that  they  may  lead  you  into  the  great,  loving 
Father-HiCart,  that  you  may  find  communion  with  him 
and  share  with  him  his  thoughts,  his  love,  and  his  pur- 
poses. We  need  not,  then,  reverence  as  sacred  the  let- 
ters, be  they  perfect  or  imperfect,  in  such  a  way  as  to 
allow  them  to  hide  from  us  the  loving  Father.  But,  rather, 
use  them,  study  them,  know  them,  till  we  hear  his  voice, 
feel  his  personality,  and  till  our  own  souls  answer  back. 
Then  we  shall  become  aware  that  God  and  Christ  are 
greater  than  any  word  of  them. 

This  is  why  Amory  H.  Bradford  can  say  :^  "Our  com- 
mon words  tell  no  more  of  what  is  behind  them  than  ocean 
waves  tell  of  the  deeps  of  the  sea.  Beneath  the  word 
'power'  throb  the  ceaseless  forces  that  palpitate  through 
the  universe.  Beneath  the  word  'love'  thrill  the  hallowed 
anticipations  of  youth,  the  deep  devotion  of  mothers' 
hearts,  and  the  fathomless  af¥ection  of  the  Father  Al- 
mighty. Our  words,  like  our  music,  our  architecture, 
and  our  paintings,  are  symbols  of  thoughts,  visions  and 
harmonies  which  flow  out  into  our  souls  from  unseen 
spheres." 

The  recognition  of  this  fact  enable  Lotze  to  posit  the 
essential   reality,   the   thing-in-itself  in   the  personal:" 

1  Messages  of  the  Masters,  p.  122.      2  Microcosmus,  Vol.  II,  p.  721. 
—215— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


"Good  and  good  things  do  not  exist  as  such  independent 
of  the  feeHng,  wilHng,  and  knowing  mind ;  they  have  real- 
ity only  as  living  movements  of  such  a  mind.  What  is 
good  in  itself  is  some  felt  bliss ;  what  we  call  good  things 
are  means  to  this  good,  but  are  not  themselves  this  good 
until  they  have  been  transformed  into  enjoyment;  the 
only  thing  that  is  really  good  is  that  living  love  that  wills 
the  blessedness  of  others." 

Air.  Campbell  again  seeks  to  elucidate  this  relation 
between  the  word  and  its  content,  between  literature  and 
its  essential  reality.  He  says : 

"Language  is,  therefore,  the  spiritual  or  intellectual  and  moral 
currency  between  man  and  man,  between  nation  and  nation,  be- 
tween ancestors  and  their  descendants;  by  which,  though  dead, 
they  commune  with  us  and  we  with  them.  This  is  the  whole 
circuit  of  language  that  decorates,  enriches  and  beautifies  the 
halls  of  literature,  science  and  religion."    *    *  * 

"Religion  and  morals  come  to  us  objectively,  through  litera- 
ture. Yet  literature  is  no  more  religion  or  morals  than  lead  is 
water  because  the  water  passes  through  it.  Still  it  happens,  if 
you  have  not  the  leaden  pipe  you  can  have  no  water  in  the  cup. 
Now,  as  religion  comes  to  us  through  the  Bible,  or  through 
literature,  if  you  have  not  some  Divine  literature  in  your  heads 
or  ears,  you  will  never  have  Divine  love  in  your  hearts.  Litera- 
ture is  not  paper  or  parchment.  It  is  that  which  is  inscribed 
upon  it.  The  envelope  of  a  letter,  anymore  than  the  paper  on 
which  it  is  written,  is  not  the  letter.  The  letter  is  the  written 
word.  A)id  yet  the  u'riften  word  is  itself  but  an  envelope.  The 
power  that  smites  the  conscience,  that  melts  the  heart,  that 
cheers  the  broken  spirit,  is  not  the  paper,  the  ink,  the  written 
symbol,  but  something  that  underlies  the  whole.  It  is  the  mind, 
the  idea,  the  spirit,  the  conception,  clothed,  embodied,  uttered, 

—216— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


perceived,  received,  accredited,  that  agonizes  or  consoles,  that 
softens  and  subdues,  that  purifies  and  ennobles  the  heart,  that 
transforms  the  man  and  adorns  him  with  the  beauty  of  purity, 
the  true  graces  of  religion  and  morality."^ 

What  then  is  this  true  reality,  this  Good-in-itself,  that 
the  words,  symbols,  and,  indeed,  all  things  envelope? 
This  is  what  we  are  all  seeking,  by  the  use  of  these 
means.  What  is  "that  something  that  underlies  the 
whole,"  that  "something  God  put  there  Lotze  an- 
swers:'' "The  true  reality  that  is  and  ought  to  be,  is  not 
matter,  and  is  still  less  Idea,  but  is  the  hving  personal 
Spirit  of  God  and  the  world  of  personal  spirits  which  He 
has  created.  They  only  are  the  place  in  which  Good  and 
good  things  exist." 

So  we  may  come  to  the  Bible  as  to  an  earthen  vessel 
not  to  be  hindered  by  its  human  workmanship  but  to  be 
partakers  of  its  rich  contents.  Ever  remembering  that 
God  is  greater  than  any  term  used  to  express  him,  or 
even  any  thought  of  him.  For  life  is  more  than  things, 
and  the  soul  is  more  than  thinking.  The  soul's  life  is 
thinking,  feeling,  willing. 

Mr.  Campbell's  coming  to  the  Bible  as  a  book  of  liter- 
ature is  not  unlike  both  in  spirit  and  utterance,  the  Ger- 
man, Herder,  poet  and  theologian.  Herder  died  when 
Mr.  Campbell  was  a  boy  of  fifteen  years.  But  Coleridge 
over  in  England  was  thinking  Herder's  thoughts  after 
him  when  Mr.  Camobell  came  to  America.    And  Camp- 

1  Add.,  p.  182f.  (Italics  author's.)  2  The  Collected  Poems  of  Wilfred 
Campbell,  p.  204.      3  Microcosmus,  Vol.  II,  p.  728. 

—217— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


bell  was  a  reader  and  admirer  of  Coleridge.  Indeed  in 
many  features  Mr.  Campbell's  labors  both  in  the  nature 
of  his  task  and  in  the  way  he  met  it,  run  parallel  to  Cole- 
ridge's. Coleridge  was  working  out  in  England  what 
Herder,  and  others,  were  working  out  in  Germany,  and 
what  Campbell  was  emphasizing  in  America. 

Let  us  for  a  moment  consider  Coleridge^s  efforts  as 
noted  by  Dr.  John  Tulloch.  Here  is  his  background. 
On  the  one  side  was  Evangelicalism,  the  only  aggressive 
religion  at  the  time  of  1800,  but  intellectually  impotent 
and  indifferent  to  the  rising  waves  of  religious  thought. 
They  felt  ''secure  within  their  well  worn  armor  of  tra- 
ditionary prejudgment."  A  subjective  standard  of  judg- 
ment was  ignored.  Authorized  dogmas,  creeds,  and  the 
Bible  being  settled  long  ago  and  fixed  for  all  time  were 
the  center  of  appeal  to  settle  everything.  The  individual 
judgment  was  ignored.  Reason  was  set  aside.  The  ap- 
peal was  to  tradition,  what  is  written.  On  the  other  side 
were  those  who  were  pillowed  upon  the  new  thought 
waves,  being  "carried  away  altogether,  and  loosing  their 
old  moorings."  This  was  the  opposite  extreme,  an  over- 
intellectualism.  Reason  was  everything.  It  was  sub- 
jectivism gone  wild. 

Coleridge  faced  the  problem  in  England  as  Campbell 
faced  it  in  America.  He  renovated  current  Christian 
ideas  and  urged  a  true  study  and  investigation  of  the 
Bible.    Both  Coleridge  and  Campbell  were  mediators, 

1  Movements  of  Religious  Thought  in  Britian  During  the  19th  Century 
(1901),  Scribner. 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


and  restorationists.  While  Coleridge  was  pleading  for 
the  restoration  of  the  broken  harmony  between  reason 
and  religion  by  enlarging  the  conceptions  of  both,  Camp- 
bell was  pleading  this  same  lost  unity  by  the  restoration 
of  the  original  conceptions  of  the  mind  of  Christ.  But 
both  were  emphasizing  the  inner  light,  the  right  and 
duty  of  the  individual  judgment  to  act.  Both  were  con- 
tending for  the  freedom  of  the  subject  to  pass  judgment 
upon  all  the  objective  data.  Both  were  calling  men  from 
the  passive  submission  to  tradition,  to  think,  to  reason,  to 
investigate,  to  decide,  and  to  act  for  themselves.  Both 
were  crying  for  rational  men  and  a  rational  Bible. 

And  there  was  Herder  over  in  Germany  during  the  later 
half  of  the  18th  century,  like  Mr.  Campbell  in  the  19th 
century  in  America,  humanizing  the  Bible  and  Chris- 
tianity. But  not  in  a  manner  which  characterized  many 
of  their  contemporaries  who  lost  sight  of  the  Divinity. 
Hagenbach,  speaking  of  Herder,  says :  ''The  very  Bible 
that  so  many  had  striven  to  set  aside  as  an  antiquated  and 
obscure  book,  and  as  a  museum  of  old  prejudices,  he 
would  hold  aloft  as  the  light  in  the  candlestick  of  the 
sanctuary,  just  as  Luther  had  done  in  the  days  of  the 
Reformation."^ 

He  took  the  Bible  from  the  hands  of  those  who  were 
giving  it  an  artificial  and  strained  interpretation,  those 
who  were  so  zealous  for  the  letter  (both  pro  and  con) 
to  the  utter  neglect  of  the  spirit,  and  sought  to  place  its 

1  Hagenbach's  History  of  the  Church  in  the  18th  and  I9th  Centuries,  Vol. 
II,  p.  39. 

—219— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


divinity  where  it  is  to  be  found,  in  the  spirit  and  not  in 
the  letter.  He  held  that  the  individual  himself  must  come 
to  the  Bible,  and  instead  of  understanding  from  the  tra- 
ditional notions  and  conceptions,  penetrate  it  with  his 
ov/n  vision.  It  was  thus  brought  to  the  touchstone  of 
the  personal  soul  with  whatever  capacity  it  might  possess, 
having  the  aid  of  that  same  Spirit  of  the  living  God  who 
had  spoken  in  these  writers.  Herder  says:  "My  dear 
friend,  the  best  study  of  divinity  is  the  study  of  the  Bible, 
and  the  best  reading  of  the  divine  book  is  human.  The 
Bible  must  be  read  in  a  human  way,  for  it  was  written 
by  men  for  men.  The  more  humanly  we  read  God's 
Word,  the  nearer  do  we  approach  to  the  purpose  of  its 
author,  who  created  man  in  his  own  image,  and  deals 
toward  us  humanly  in  all  these  works  and  blessings 

where  he  manifests  himself  to  us  as  God  As 

a  child  listens  to  its  father's  voice,  and  as  a  man  to  that 
of  his  betrothed,  so  do  we  hear  God's  voice  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  thereby  learn  the  music  of  eternity  which 
sounds  through  them  If  God's  Word  is  pre- 
sented to  me  in  the  hand  of  criticism  as  a  squeezed  lemon, 
God  be  praised  that  it  becomes  once  more  a  fruit  to  me, 
growing  as  it  does  upon  the  tree  of  life."^ 

^Moreover  in  his  subjective  enthusiasm  Herder  does  not 
lose  sight  of  the  great  subjective  fact.  And  in  this,  too, 
]\Ir.  Campbell  is  at  one  with  him.  In  coming  to  this  rev- 
elation of  God  with  the  personal  soul,  this  touchstone 

1  Hagenbach's  History  of  the  Church  in  the  18th  and  19th  Centuries,  Vol. 
II,  p.  40. 

—220— 


Alexander  Cajiipbeil  and  Christian  Liberty. 


must  be  brought  into  conjunction  with  its  true  center — 
Jesus  Christ.  Says  Herder :  "But  in  order  to  be  assisted 
the  revelation  of  God  as  found  in  the  Bible,  and  even  in 
the  entire  history  of  the  human  race,  must  be  believed, 
and  thus  ever  return  to  the  great  center  about  which 
everything  revolves  and  clusters,  Jesus  Christ,  the  corner 
stone  and  inheritance,  the  greatest  messenger,  teacher 
and  person  of  the  Archetype.  From  his  very  nature  he 
is  the  corner-stone  of  salvation,  in  whom  we  would  in- 
clude everything  that  can  save  the  world. 

In  coming  to  the  Bible  as  literature  of  both  human  and 
divine  elements,  and  whose  true  meaning  disclosed  itself 
only  to  those  who  penetrated  it  with  their  own  under- 
standing, Mr.  Campbell  was  saved  not  only  from  a  forced 
mystical  interpretation  but  a  cheap  and  easy  literalism. 
He  was  no  mystic.  Neither  was  he  a  literalist.  This  dis- 
tinction of  the  Hgiirative  and  literal  meaning  of  words  zi'as 
of  fundamental  importance  in  his  view  of  understanding 
Scripture.    He  asks : 

"Now,  as  it  frequently  happens  that  words  have  different 
signification,  as  literal  and  figurative,  and  are  consequently  used 
in  diverse  acceptations,  sometimes  meaning  this  and  sometimes 
that,  the  first  and  most  necessary  inquiry  must  always  be,  Hoic 
shall  we,  in  any  particular  case,  ascertain  whether  the  literal 
or  the  figurative  use  of  any  given  term  shall  be  regarded  as  its 
proper  signification  f  To  which  important  inquiry  we  give  this 
answer :  The  particular  writer  or  speaker,  or  the  particular 
subject  on  which  he  writes  or  speaks,  or  the  particular  context 

1  Hageiibach's  History  of  the  Church  iu  the  18th  and  19th  Centuries,  Vol* 
II,  p.  SO. 

—221— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


or  the  particular  adjuncts  or  words  in  construction  with  it,  will 
generalh-,,  if  not  universally,  ascertain  and  limit  the  meaning 
beyond  any  reasonable  doubt."^ 

In  other  words,  all  these  things  must  be  shot  through 
with  the  interpreter's  vision,  then  he  may  come  to  a  judg- 
ment upon  the  matter.  'Mr.  Campbell  furnishes  us  with 
some  excellent  examples  of  his  reasoning  upon  this  im- 
portant consideration.  He  gives  point  to  the  matter  when 
he  says : 

once  knew  a  crazy  literalist  who  affirmed  that  wind  and 
spirit  were  the  same — that  a  man's  breath  was  his  soul,  because 
both  were  represented  by  the  same  word.  Xor  did  he  stop  at 
these  absurdities,  but  persisted  in  the  maintenance  of  a  literal 
river  of  life,  jasper  walls,  pearly  gates  and  golden  streets  in  the 
heavenly  Jerusalem. 

"That  a  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,  the  flames  of  Tophet,  and 
the  perpetual  burnings  of  the  Vale  of  Hinnom,  should  become 
emblems  and  representations  of  the  fearful  doom  of  wicked  and 
ungodly  men,  is  certainly  as  rational  and  consistent  as  that  a 
garden  of  delights,  a  golden  city,  spacious  and  splendid  man- 
sions, crowns  of  glory,  and  kingly  thrones,  should  constitute  the 
imagery  of  the  eternal  honors  and  blessedness  of  the  children  of 
God.  No  man  of  good  sense  and  scriptural  information  under- 
stands these  representations  to  be  exact  literal  delineations  of 
the  future  condition  of  saints  and  sinners.  Pleasure  or  pain 
corresponding  with  these  figurative  representations  is  all  that 
persons  of  sound  sense  and  accurate  discrimination  understand 
by  them.'"2 

Mr.  Campbell  arrives  at  these  rational  critical  conclu- 
sions by  use  of  the  same  method  which  Bible  scholars 

1  Add.,  p.  405,      2  Add,,  p.  448. 

—222— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


are  applying  in  the  same  way  to  certain  portions  of  the 
Old  Testament.^  Here  is  a  fine  illustration  of  his  rea- 
soning upon  the  distinction  between  the  literal  and  figur- 
ative use  of  wbrds.  About  the  idea  of  God's  repenting, 
he  says: 

"It  is  a  meton^TTiic  figure.  A  figurative  expression  is  never 
to  be  subjected  to  a  literal  interpretation.  [Now,  how  does  Mr. 
Campbell  know  this  to  be  a  figure?  What  better  right  has  he 
for  this  result  than  some  other  critic  has  for  the  conclusion 
that  it  is  literal?  Just  this,  he  penetrates  the  idea  with  his  own 
vision,  reason,  understanding,  sense.  He  tells  us  how  he  deter- 
mines this  judgment]  Now  that  God  could  repent  at  all,  in 
the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term,  is  out  of  the  question  alto- 
gether, if  for  us  no  other  reason,  because  he  could  not  do  wrong. 
Hence  we  reject  entirely  the  literal  import  of  the  word.  The 
expression  is  a  figurative  one.  This  is  the  very  language  of 
poetry,  occurring,  too,  in  the  best  style  of  history.    *    *  * 

"There  is  a  vast  deal  of  this  kind  of  writing  in  the  Bible — I 
mean  figurative  writing;  and  this  expression,  *It  repented,  the 
Lord  that  he  had  made  men  on  the  earth?'  may  be  called  a 
figurative  exaggeration.  [Undoubtedly  the  people  in  Mr.  Camp- 
bell's day  thought  him  to  be  playing  fast  and  loose  with  Moses.] 
In  our  daily  parlance  we  frequently  observe  the  literal  and 
figurative  use  of  the  same  word.  We  use  words  in  their  true  im- 
port, as  far  as  we  can,  and  it  is  a  law  that  when  matters  of  fact 
are  presented  we  should,  as  far  as  possible,  use  words  in  their 
common  acceptation.  *  *  *  But  in  poetry  and  prophecy  we 
have  what  we  call  rhetorical  license.    *    *  * 

"The  idea  that  God  could  be  sorry  and  repent,  as  men  repent 
for  having  done  wrong,  is  simply  preposterous.    It  could  not  be. 

1  c.  f .  Driver :  The  Lit.  of  the  Old.  Test.  Kent ;  A  Hist,  of  the  Hebrew  People. 
Lyman  Abbot:  The  Evolution  of  Christianity,  In  fact  all  modern  scholars, 
c.  f.  Especially  Clark  Braden  in  Christian  Cent.,  Dec.  6,  '08. 

—223— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


It  is  therefore  a  figurative  expression — an  appearance  for  a 
reality."^ 

He  puts  into  the  interpreter's  hands  the  golden  key  of 
understanding  the  Scriptures  rationally  in  these  words : 

"We  have  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  every  form  of  expression. 
We  have  not  only  poetry  and  prose,  precepts,  promises  and 
threats ;  but  all  the  various  forms  and  usages  of  human  speech 
seem  to  be  employed  in  some  part  of  the  sacred  volume."'^ 

Lotze  utters  a  significant  remark  here:"  "The  sacred 
writings  will  always  captivate  men's  minds  by  their 
majesty  of  content  and  their  grand  beauty  of  expression, 
the  simplicity  of  which  is  more  effective  than  any  con- 
scious art.  But  that  which  primarily  hinders  us  from 
taking  them  quite  literally  it  not  the  incredibility  of  that 
which  thev  report,  but  the  figurative  form  of  their  teach- 
ing, which  must  be  interpreted  in  order  to  be  under- 
stood." 

After  such  a  consideration  from  ]\Ir.  Campbell  we  feel 
the  peculiar  force  of  the  words  of  Dr.  W.  T.  Moore  :^ 
''The  religious  movement  of  the  Disciples  has  given  a 
7ieiv  vueaning  to  the  Bible  through  a  scientific  interpreta- 
tion of  that  book.  Nothing  distinguished  Alexander 
Campbell's  advocacy  more  than  his  earnest  plea  for  a  ra- 
tional interpretation  of  the  Bible.  Xo  one  has  ever  op- 
posed more  vehemently  than  he  did  the  dogmatic  and 
mystic  methods  of  treating  the  Word  of  God.  His  whole 
system  of  hermeneutics  is  based  upon  the  dictum  that 

1  Lect.  on  Pent.,  p.  156f,  2  ibid.,  p.  309.  3  Microcosmus,  Vol.  II,  p.  4\. 
4  The  Plea  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  p.  5f. 

 004  


^Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


the  Bible  is  an  intelligent  revelation  of  God,  and  can 
therefore  be  understood  when  properly  treated  by  a  legit- 
imate method  of  interpretation  It  must  be  evi- 

den  that  the  Disciple  movement  has  done  much  for  the 
religion  of  Christ  by  giving  a  rational  interpretation  of 
the  Bible.  While  their  contention  for  the  Bible  and  the 
Bible  alone  as  a  sufficient  rule  of  faith  and  practice  is 
all  right  as  far  as  it  goes,  their  greater  and  more  dis- 
tinctive contention  from  the  beginning  has  been  that  the 
Bible  can  be  understood  only  by  the  wise  and  honest  use 
of  the  scientific  method  of  interpretation.  This  I  regard 
as  one  of  the  most  distinguished  features  of  their  plea, 
without  which  everything  else  would  have  been  a  fail- 
ure." 


(15) 


—225— 


CHAPTER  V. 
Hearing  the  Voice  of  God 


The  object  of  the  Bible  is  primarily  not  a  revelation  of  law. 
either  ecclesiastical,  political,  or  moral,  but  a  revelation  of  God. 
This  revelation  is  both  imperfect  and  progressive.  It  is  im- 
perfect, because  it  is  the  revelation  of  the  infinite  to  the  finite, 
and  the  finite  cannot  perfectly  comprehend  the  infinite;  it  is 
progressive  because  as  man  grows  in  spiritual  and  intellectual 
capacity,  his  apprehension  of  the  infinite  grows  also.  This  prop- 
osition is  as  familiar  to  the  student  of  theolog}-  as  it  is  axiom- 
atic. "If."  says  Professor  Harris.  "God  reveals  himself,  it  must 
be  through  the  medium  of  the  finite,  and  to  finite  beings.  The 
revelation  must  be  commensurate  with  the  medium  through 
which  it  is  made  and  with  the  development  of  the  minds  to 
whom  it  is  made.  Hence,  both  the  revelation  itself,  and  man's 
apprehension  of  the  God  revealed,  must  be  progressive,  and  at 
any  point  of  time  incomplete.  Hence,  while  it  is  the  true  God 
who  reveals  himself,  man's  apprehension  of  God  at  different 
stages  of  his  own  development  may  be  not  only  incomplete,  but 
marred  by  gross  misconception."  *  *  *  The  Bible  illustrates 
this  truth.  The  revelation  of  God  grows  both  in  clearness  and 
in  spiritual  grandeur  as  man  grows  in  capacity  to  receive  and 
to  communicate  it.— (Lyman  Abott),  The  Evolution  of  Chris- 
tianity. 


^228-- 


CHAPTER  V. 


HEARING  THE  VOICE  OF  GOD. 

Men  were  coming  to  the  Bible  theologically  prepos- 
sessed. Their  understanding  of  it  was  predetermined  by 
their  views  of  inspiration  and  revelation,  which  they  had 
inherited  from  the  past.  Some,  therefore,  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  hearing  the  voice  of  God  which  spoke  to  them 
from  the  sacred  volume.  God  was  in  the  book,  just  as 
the  fathers  had  declared.  While  others,  contrarily 
taught,  failed  to  hear  any  voice  of  God  in  the  Bible  call- 
ing to  their  souls.  Thereupon  they  turned  from  its 
sacred  pages  with  distrust.  The  uniqueness  of  Mr. 
Campbell's  attitude  was,  as  we  have  already  seen,  to  di- 
vest himself  of  both  the  religious  awe  and  the  incredulous 
prejudices  as  he  stood  before  the  Bible,  allowing  it  to 
speak  for  itself. 

What  were  his  findings  as  lie  stood  before  the  Book? 
What  did  his  own  individual  reason,  understanding,  com- 
mon sense,  find  the  Bible  to  be?  We  have  already  con- 
sidered his  estimate  of  its  mechanical  make-up — that  it  is, 
as  regards  its  form  and  structure,  language,  words,  etc., 
intensely  human ;  that  it  is  a  book  of  literature  to  be  un- 
derstood according  to  the  same  critical  rules  applied  to 
other  literature.    But  is  it  no  more  than  a  human  book 

—229— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


of  literature?  Is  it  not  unlike  all  other  books  that  it 
should  receive  his  life-long  endeavor?  Did  he  find  no 
change  of  atmosphere  when  he  stepped  from  even  the 
world's  noblest  literature  into  this?  Yes,  he  did.  He 
found  this  Bible  to  be  dizine  as  well  as  human.  He 
found  Divinity  breathing  everywhere  from  its  pages. 
He  found  himself  in  a  new,  a  different,  a  heavenly  atmos- 
phere. It  was  like  stepping  out  of  night  into  day.  It  was 
like  stepping  out  of  the  fogs  into  sunshine.  It  was  like 
getting  a  view  of  the  universe  from  the  mountain  tops 
above  the  clouds  after  having  been  in  the  valley  beneath 
the  clouds.  The  change  was  as  from  the  cold  white 
silence  of  winter  to  the  warmth,  beauty  and  music  of  the 
springtime.  It  was  a  change  from  Alpine  snows  to 
Southland's  sunny  tropics.  Not  the  intellect  alone  be- 
comes captivated  and  held  under  the  spell  of  wonderful 
ideas.  But  this  Book  enraptures  the  soul.  It  fires  the 
will.  It  touches  the  whole  man.  His  vague  longings 
and  dreams,  his  aspirations  and  ideals,  his  present  need, 
comfort  and  joy,  are  all  met  and  satisfied  in  this  blessed 
volume.  There  is  a  response  of  life  to  life,  of  soul  an- 
swering to  soul.  Yea,  this  book  so  human  is  found 
throbbing  with  Divine  Life. 

This  is  what  Dr.  William  R.  Harper  was  feeling  when 
he  stepped  out  of  the  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  writings 
into  the  Hebrew  Scriptures:'  "We  ^  *  *  find  in 
the  one  a  something  which  seizes  hold  of  us,  moves  us 
powerfully,  elevates  us,  inspires  us.    We  look  for  the 

1  Bible  Criticism  and  the  Average  "Slan  (Johnston),  p.  71. 

—230— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


same  element  in  the  other,  but  it  is  wholly  lacking.  In- 
stead, there  is  a  dullness,  a  flatness,  an  insipidity,  which 
disappoints,  and  at  times  almost  disgusts.  Why  this  dif- 
ference? There  is  but  one  possible  answer.  This  writ- 
ing, or  series  of  writings,  is  human,  only  human.  The 
other  is  human,  to  be  sure,  but  also  divine.  The  evidence 
is  direct;  it  is  absolutely  conclusive  and  must  be  con- 
vincing." 

So  this  becomes  the  ultimate  purpose  of  the  Bible  and 
the  true  end  of  all  interpretation ;  to  bring  the  person  face 
to  face  with  the  Infinite  Father,  under  the  spell  of  his  in- 
spiration, his  love,  and  his  purpose. 

Therefore  to  Mr.  Campbell  the  Bible  is  not  only  "the 
book  of  humanity,"  but  "the  book  of  Divinity.  '   He  says : 

"The  divine  mind,  the  eternal  spirit,  breathes  through  the 
signs  of  that  book — through  its  words,  its  types,  its  figures, 
its  principles,  its  precepts,  its  examples — upon  our  moral  nature. 
It  quickens,  animates,  purifies,  enlarges,  and  dignifies  it  by  an 
assimilation  of  it  to  an  incarnation  of  the  Divinity  itself;  and 
capacitates  man  and  woman  for  higher  joys,  purer  delights, 
and  a  more  efficient  agency  in  imparting  bliss  to  others,  than  all 
the  documents,  volumes,  facts  and  events  in  all  the  other  rec- 
ords of  man,  or  developments  of  God  visible  to  mortal  eye."^ 

To  his  thought  the  Bible  contained  no  more  a  revela- 
tion of  God  than  of  man.  Side  by  side  runs  the  process, 
God  gradually  and  progressively  disclosing  himself  to 
man,  and  man  slowly  comprehending  himself  and  his 
significance  in  the  light  of  the  revealed  God.  Such  a 
progressive  insight  is  absolutely  necessary  for  any  true 

1  Add  ,  p.  68. 

=-231— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


life,  for,  as  Lotze  says,  '*any  one  who  could  see  quite 
through  himself  would  seem  to  us  to  have  come  to  an 
end  of  himself ;  he  alone  who  is  gradually  discovering 
himself  is  entitled  to  take  an  interest  in  his  own  exist- 
ence." This  "dark  core  of  our  being"  then  has  its  real 
value,  even  with  all  its  seeming  unreality.  We  are  con- 
stantly driven  to  God  to  know  ourselves.  If  the  Bible 
would  meet  us  here  we  must  see  the  revealed  man,  as  well 
the  revealed  God.    Says  ]\Ir.  Campbell : 

"It  is  such  a  revelation  of  God  and  of  man,  such  a  record 
of  the  past,  and  such  anticipation  of  the  future,  as  meets  all 
the  intellectual  wants  and  moral  exigencies  of  the  human  race.'*^ 

Again,  in  speaking  upon  "the  necessity  of  a  divine  revela- 
tion of  the  moral  nature  of  man,"  he  says : 

"We  need  as  much  revelation  in  respect  to  the  latter  as  to 
the  former;  and  we  are  glad  to  know  that  these  views  are 
not  peculiar  to  us,  but  that  in  the  march  of  Science,  and  the 
growth  of  human  understanding,  their  correctness  is  being  more 
and  more  realized."^ 

How  these  recorded  experiences  of  men  speak  to  us  of 
man  as  well  as  of  God,  he  shows  when  he  says : 

"It  is  the  book  of  the  Divine  nature;  it  is,  indeed,  the  book 
of  God — and  the  book  of  man.  Other  books  have  nations  or 
individual  men,  specific  sciences  or  arts,  for  their  subject;  this 
is  the  book  of  man.  Human  nature  is  here  as  fully  revealed 
as  the  Divine.  They  are  revealed  in  comparison,  in  contrast, 
in  things  similar,  in  things  dissimilar.  The  fountains  of  the 
great  deep  of  human  thought,  of  human  motives,  of  human 
action,  are  broken  up :  and  man,  inward  and  outward,  is  con- 

1  Bapt.,  p.  89.      -  Lect.  on  Pent.,  p.  66. 

—232— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


templated  not  in  the  dim  taper  of  time,  but  in  the  strong, 
bright  light  of  eternity;  not  merely  as  respects  his  position  on 
the  terraqueous  globe,  nor  in  human  societ}^  but  as  respects  all 
his  positions  and  attributes  in  a  whole  universe,  a  boundless 
future,  a  vast  eternity."^ 

Again, 

"No  man  ever  saw  himself,  ever  knew  himself,  who  has  not 
stood  before  this  mirror  (Bible).  It  is  as  much  a  revelation 
of  man  to  himself  as  of  God  to  man."^ 

How  progressive,  expansive  and  fresh  he  understood 
these  self-disclosures  to  be  appears  when  he  says : 

"The  two  cardinal  elements  of  the  whole  Book  of  Books 
are  Divinity  and  humanity.  *  *  *  They  are  (the  contents 
of  the  Bible)  subjects  that  will  always  grow  in  interest  and 
importance,  as  we  grow  in  knowledge,  and  intellectual  and  spir- 
itual power;  and,  we  presume  to  say,  that  their  expansion  will 
be  eternal  as  mind  itself.  *  *  *  Thus,  as  we  advance  in 
wisdom  and  happiness,  in  the  order  of  the  wondrous  and  sub- 
lime revelation  of  God,  to  the  growing  comprehension  and 
capacity  of  man,  our  growth,  after  all,  will  only  prove  that  the 
finite  can  never  reach  the  infinite — the  creature  never  rival  the 
Creator."^ 

Or,  as  Dr.  King  puts  it :  "^''Moreover,  when  one  thinks 
what  a  real  moral  and  spiritual  revelation  to  a  man  means, 
he  must  see  that  there  can  be  a  growing  revelation  only 
as  the  man  grozvs,  as  he  comes  little  by  little  into  that  ex- 
perience of  life  out  of  which  he  can  interpret  the  revela- 
tion." 

Therefore,  Mr.  Campbell  can  say  of  the   Bible  that 

1  Add.,  p.  68.      2  Add.,  p.  3  Lect.  on  Pent.,  p.  362.       ■*  Reconstruc- 

tion in  Theology,  p.  159. 

—  233— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


"It  is  not  a  theodicy,  a  theogony,  a  theocracy,  or  a  theology. 
It  is  an  encyclopedia  of  Divinity  and  humanity.  It  is  a  reve- 
lation of  God  in  man,  and  of  man  in  God.  It  is  a  revelation 
of  the  mysteries  of  the  universe  so  far  as  relates  to  the  mys- 
tery of  godliness  and  of  the  past,  present  and  future  of  man. 
It  is  to  us,  the  library  of  God,  and  the  library  of  man  as  he 
was,  as  he  is,  and  as  he  will  hereafter  be."^ 

This  is  the  same  practical  conclusion  that  Dr.  Dods 
came  to  when  he  said :  ^''In  the  Bible  we  have  the  writ- 
ten history  of  this  approach  of  C-od  to  man,  the  record  of 
His  revelation  of  His  gracious  and  saving  purpose  and 
work.  To  think  of  it  as  a  convenient  collection  or  sum- 
mary of  doctrines,  a  text-book  in  theological  knowledge, 
is  entirely  to  misconceive  it."  Its  positive  side  is  clearly 
expressed  by  Dr.  King  when  he  says :  ^''The  Bible  as- 
sumption everywhere  is  that  the  living  God  comes  into 
touch  with  living  men.  The  Bible,  indeed,  may  perhaps 
be  best  conceived  as  the  record  of  the  pre-eminent  meet- 
ings of  God  with  men.  *  *  *  ^j^^  revelation  is  of 
God,  and  inspiration  is  the  meeting  of  God  with  men — 
the  Bible  of  the  race  must  be  the  record  of  the  pre- 
eminent meetings  of  God  with  men." 

Whatever  may  have  been  Mr.  Campbell's  views  of 
Revelation  and  Inspiration,  it  is  certain  that  he  trans- 
cended the  popular  idea  that  the  whole  Bible  was  a  revela- 
tion of  God  and  that  the  words  of  the  Bible  were  in- 
spired. If  he  had  not  come  into  the  clear  light  of  the 
modern  view,  it  was  because  of  the  vagueness  and  dark- 

1  Mil.  Har.  1860,  p.  249.      2  The  Bible :  Its  Origin  and  Nature,  p.  96. 

3  Reconstruction  in  Theology,  p.  156f. 

—234— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


ness  of  his  times.  The  modern  view  was  not  yet  clear, 
either  in  its  conception  or  expression,  even  among  the 
ablest  scholars,  as  it  was  almost  unknown,  much  less 
comprehended,  by  the  average  mind.  This  latter  fact 
seems  to  have  considerable  weight  in  the  expression  of 
^Ir.  Campbell  upon  this  theme.  For  we  find  him,  after 
making  his  statements  as  regards  revelation,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  scholar,  appending  a  remark  for  the 
people  that  they  might  not  think  of  him  as  one  gone 
astray  on  the  matter.   This  is  evident  when  he  says : 

"I  do  not  believe,  then,  that  the  book  commonly  called  the 
Bible  is  properly  denominated  a  Divine  Revelation,  or  a  com- 
munication from  the  Deity  to  the  human  race.  At  the  same 
time,  I  am  convinced  that  in  this  volume  there  are  revelations 
or  communications  from  the  Deity  to  man.  *  *  --^  The  his- 
tory of  the  bondage  in  Egypt,  of  their  pilgrimage  through  the 
wilderness,  of  their  possession  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  of  their 
judges  and  kings,  is  no  more  than  true  and  faithful  history, 
from  the  perusal  of  which  the  divine  character  and  human  char- 
acter is  developed  to  the  mind  of  the  reader. 

''This  is  as  true  of  the  Apostolic  writings  as  of  the  ancient 
Jewish  prophets.  In  the  five  historical  books  of  the  New  Cov- 
enant or  Testament,  many  thousand  items  are  written  which 
are  no  divine  revelation ;  such  as  the  reasonings,  objections  and 
discourses  of  the  Jewish  priests,  scribes,  Pharisees,  and  Sad- 
due  ees.  Many  historical  facts,  such  as  the  decapitation  of  John, 
the  calling  of  Peter,  the  enrollment  of  Augustus  Caesar,  the 
death  of  Herod,  the  mart}Tdom  and  burial  of  Stephen,  the  pere- 
grinations of  the  Savior  and  the  Apostles,  etc.,  etc.  These  and 
a  thousand  other  items  cannot  be  called,  in  our  sense  of  the 
terms,  a  divine  revelation.  Many  things  in  the  prophetic  books 
of  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  and  many  things  in  the  epistles  of  the 

—235— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Christian  Scriptures,  are  of  the  same  kind.  It  is  not  the  patri- 
archal, nor  the  Jewish,  nor  the  Christian  Revelation  in  piece- 
meal, that  I  am  about  to  defend  against  the  querulous,  captious 
skeptic — it  is  the  consummation  of  all  the  ancient  revelations 
in  the  mission  of  the  Son  of  God.  In  reference  to  this  I  view 
the  whole  volume ;  for  this  is  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega  of 
the  whole.  The  Christian  religion  is  the  corn  in  the  ear.  It 
germinated  in  the  patriarchal,  it  shot  forth  in  the  Jewish,  and 
ripened  at  the  Christian  era.  It  is  not  the  bud  nor  the  stalk, 
nor  the  leaves,  nor  the  blossoms,  but  the  ripe  ear  which  we 
are  to  eat.    And  it  is  this  about  which  we  are  concerned.'^ 

But,  after  this  evolutionary  consideration,  he  sa3's  this, 
which  plainly  reveals  his  pedagogical  method  in  adapt- 
ing truth  to  the  capacity  of  the  hearer: 

''To  obviate  the  unfounded  fears  of  some  weak  minds,  aris- 
ing from  m3-  remark  on  Revelation,  I  will  state  distinctly, 
though  it  is  fairly  implied  in  my  remarks,  that,  as  historians, 
the  sacred  writers  are  infallible.  *  *  *  It  matters  not 
whether  these  historians  wrote  in  part  or  in  whole  from  tra- 
dition, from  their  own  observations,  or  from  immediate  sug- 
gestions, their  historical  accounts  are  to  us  infallible,  because 
sanctioned,  approved,  and  quoted  by  those  under  the  fullest  in- 
fluence of  the  Holy  Spirit."^ 

It  seems  certain  that  Mr.  Campbell  n^as  earning  into  the 
fidl  light  of  modern  Bible  knozi'ledge  as  rapidly  as  the 
age-circumstances  allowed  him. 

This  fact  is  again  witnessed  in  his  Owen  debate,  where 
he  says: 

"For  now  it  is  usual  to  call  the  whole  Bible  a  revelation 
from  God.    I  must  explain  myself  here.    There  are  a  thousand 


1  C.  B..  p.  344f.      -  Ibid. 


—236— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


historic  facts  narrated  in  the  Bible  which  it  would  be  absurd 
to  regard  as  immediate  and  direct  revelation  from  the  Almighty. 
*  *  *  Revelation,  from  the  import  of  the  term,  must  be  su- 
pernatural. But  the  historic  parts  of  both  Testaments  present 
a  great  variety  of  topographical  and  historic  facts  and  inci- 
dents ;  colloquies  between  friends  and  enemies,  of  apostle,  proph- 
ets, and  patriarchs,  and  of  distinguished  persons,  good  and  evil; 
wars,  intrigues,  amours,  and  crimes  of  every  dye.  Now  it 
would  be  neither  philosophical  nor  rational  to  dignify  and  des- 
ignate these  colloquies,  narratives,  geographical  and  biograph- 
ical notices,  etc.,  by  the  term  revelation.  The  term  revelation, 
in  its  strict  acceptation  among  intelligent  Christians,  means 
nothing  more  or  less  than  a  Divine  communication  concerning 
spiritual  and  eternal  things,  a  knowledge  of  which  man  could 
never  have  obtained  by  the  exercise  of  his  reason  upon  mate- 
rial and  sensible  objects;  for,  as  Paul  says,  'Things  which  the 
eye  has  not  seen,  nor  the  ear  heard,  neither  has  it  entered  into 
the  heart  of  man  to  conceive,  has  God  revealed  to  us  apostles, 
and  we  declare  them  to  you.'  *  *  *  (Bible)  teaches  us 
man,  it  develops  human  nature,  it  reveals  to  us  the  character 
and  purpose  of  the  Maker  of  the  Universe.  *  *  *  f^g  ridi- 
cule which  some  ignorant  skeptics  have  uttered  against  the 
contents  of  this  book,  under  the  general  title  of  a  revelation 
from  God,  as  if  it  were  all  properly  so  called,  is,  if  it  have 
any  point,  only  directed  against  their  own  obtusity  of  intellect, 
and  negligence  in  making  themselves  acquainted  with  the  most 
important  of  all  books  in  the  world."^ 

Progressive  revelation  is  from  the  known  to  the  un- 
known ;  God  meeting  man  in  his  very  crudeness  and  lift- 
ing him  little  by  little  to  fuller  knowledge.  Therefore 
Mr.  Campbell  can  say: 

"Things  entirely  unknown  can  only  be  communicated  to  the 
1  Kvi.,  p.  146f. 

—237— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


mind  by  things  already  known.  This  axiom  is  at  the  basis  of 
all  revelations,  and  explains  many  otherwise  inexplicable  inci- 
dents in  the  divine  communications  to  man.  The  natural  sym- 
bols and  the  artificial  names  of  things  became,  from  a  neces- 
sity of  nature,  the  only  means  through  which  God  could  make 
himself  known  to  man.  This,  too,  has  been  the  invariable  rule 
and  measure  of  all  the  discoveries  which  God  has  made  of 
himself,  his  purpose  and  will.  Hence,  the  spangled  heavens, 
all  the  elements  of  nature,  the  earth  and  the  sea,  with  all  their 
inhabitants;  the  relations,  customs  and  usages  existing  among 
men,  have  all  been  so  many  types  or  letters  in  the  great  al- 
phabet which  constitutes  the  vocabulary  of  divine  revelation  to 
men.  He  has  even  personated  himself  by  his  own  creatures, 
and  spoken  to  man  through  human  institutions.  Hence  he  has 
been  called  a  Sun,  Light,  Father,  Husband,  Man  of  War,  Gen- 
eral of  Hosts,  a  Lord  of  Battles,  King,  Prince,  Master,  etc. 
He  has  been  represented  as  sitting,  standing,  walking,  hasting, 
awaking.  He  has  been  compared  to  a  unicorn,  lion,  rock,  moun- 
tain, etc.  He  has  made  himself  known  in  his  character,  per- 
fections, purposes  and  will  by  things  already  known  to  man. 
This  is  the  grand  secret  which,  when  disclosed,  removes  many 
difficulties  and  objections,  and  sets  in  a  clear  light  the  genius 
of  the  Jewish  age  of  the  religious  world. 

"Now  when  God  became  the  King  of  one  nation  it  was  only 
doing  what,  on  a  more  extensive  scale,  and  with  more  various 
and  powerful  efifects,  he  had  done  in  calling  himself  a  Father. 
Both  were  designed  to  make  himself  known  through  human 
relations  and  institutions.  One  type,  symbol,  or  name,  is  alto- 
gether incompetent  to  develop  the  wonderful  and  incompre- 
hensible God.  But  his  wisdom  and  goodness  are  most  appar- 
ent in  making  himself  known  in  those  relations  and  to  those 
extents  which  are  best  adopted  to  human  wants  and  imper- 
fections. And  the  perfection  in  these  discoveries  consists  in 
their  being  exactly  suited  to  the  different  ages  of  the  world 

—238— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


and  stages  of  human  improvement.  At  the  time  when  he 
chose  one  nation  and  made  himself  known  to  all  the  earth  as 
its  King  and  God,  no  other  name,  type  or  symbol  was  so  well 
adapted  to  the  benevolent  purpose  as  those  selected.  For 
when  Israel  was  brought  out  of  Egypt  all  the  nations  had  their 
gods;  and  these  gods  were  esteemed  and  admired  according  to 
the  strength,  skill,  prowess  and  prosperity  of  the  nation  over 
which  they  were  supposed  to  preside.  Hence  that  god  was  the 
most  adorable  in  human  eyes  whose  people  were  most  con- 
spicuous. 

"Wars  and  battles  were  the  offspring  of  the  spirit  of  those 
ages  cotemporaneous  with  the  first  five  hundred  years  of  the 
Jewish  history,  and  with  the  ages  immediately  preceding. 
Hence  the  idea  was  that  the  nation  most  powerful  in  war  had 
the  greatest  and  most  adorable  god.  Now  as  the  Most  High 
(a  name  borrowed  from  the  very  age)  always  took  the  world 
as  it  was  in  every  period  in  which  he  chose  to  develop  him- 
self anew,  or  his  purposes,  he  chose  to  appear  as  the  Lord  of 
Hosts,  or  God  of  Armies.  And  to  make  his  name  known 
through  all  the  earth,  he  took  one  nation  under  his  auspices, 
and  appeared  as  their  Sovereign  and  the  Commander-in-Chief 
of  all  armies."^ 

The  above  sentiments  are  very  illuminating  and  sig- 
nificant, if  not  bold  and  advanced,  when  v^e  take  into  con- 
sideration the  general  state  of  development  of  Biblical 
criticism  at  the  time  of  utterance.  We  must  remember 
they  were  uttered  in  popular  assembly  in  the  city  of  Cin- 
cinnati in  1829!  If  they  lack  the  modemness  and  clear- 
ness in  expression  of  W.  Robertson  Smith's  Edinburgh 
and  Glasgow  lectures  on  "The  Old  Testament  in  the 
Jewish  Church/'  let  us  remember  these  were  delivered 

1  Kvi.,  p.  360. 

—239-. 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


fifty-two  years  after  Mr.  Campbell  expressed  these  ideas. 
According  to  his  own  principle,  many  changes  in  the  con- 
ceptions of  truth  occur  in  the  course  of  a  half  century. 
Or  if  one  does  not  find  in  Mr.  Campbell's  utterance  the 
clearness,  force  and  reality  that  he  finds  in  Lyman  Abbott's 
address  on  this  same  theme  in  "The  Evolution  of  Chris- 
tianity," let  him  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  these  were 
not  published  till  after  Mr.  Campbell  had  been  dead 
twenty-six  years. 

But  he  continues  in  his  remarks  on  progressive  revela- 
tion, showing  how  such  an  evolutionary  method  is  really 
God's  way  of  accomplishment,  both  in  the  natural  and 
spiritual  realms.  In  this  he  is  not  unlike  the  great  Drum- 
mond,  who  developed  this  idea  and  forced  it  so  markedly 
upon  the  attention  of  men.    Mr.  Campbell  continues : 

"But  we  must  not  think  that  only  one  purpose  was  gained, 
or  one  object  was  exclusively  in  view  in  any  of  those  great 
movements  of  the  Governor  of  the  World.  This  is  contrary  to 
the  general  analogy  of  the  material  and  spiritual  systems.  By 
the  annual  and  diurnal  revolutions  of  the  earth,  although  by 
the  former  the  seasons  of  the  year,  and  by  the  latter,  day  and 
night  seem  to  be  chief  objects,  there  are  a  thousand  ends 
gained  in  conjunction  with  the  one  principal  one.  So  in  this 
grand  economy,  many,  very  many,  illustrious  ends  were  gained 
beside  the  capital  one  just  mentioned.  For,  as  in  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  we  have  a  succession  of  stages  in  the  growth  of 
plants;  as  in  the  animal  kingdom,  we  have  a  succession  of 
stages  in  the  growth  of  animals;  so  in  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
there  is  a  similar  progression  of  light,  knowledge,  life  and 
bliss.  *  *  *  Why  did  not  the  Universal  Benevolence  in- 
troduce the  best  possible  order  of  things  first?    Such  cavaliers 

—240— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


remind  me  of  the  child  who  asks,  whether  from  curiosity  or 
petulance :  Why  does  not  the  ripe  ear  of  corn  come  up  from 
the  seed  deposited  in  the  earth?  Why  does  not  the  full  ripe 
ear  first  present  itself  to  our  eye?  Would  not  a  kind  and 
benevolent  being  have  done  this  rather  than  have  kept  man 
waiting  for  many  months  for  the  tedious  progress  of  ger- 
minating, growing,  shooting,  blossoming  etc.?  Could  not  an 
almighty  and  benevolent  being  have  produced  the  ripe  ear 
without  waiting  for  a  sprout,  stalk,  leaves,  blossoms,  and  all 
the  other  preparations  of  nature  to  form  an  ear  of  corn?  We 
are,  even  in  the  common  concerns  of  life,  but  poor  judges  of 
propriety;  and  it  is  extreme  arrogance  for  us  to  arraign 
Omniscience  at  the  tribunal  of  our  reason  where  we  cannot 
tell  the  reason  why  the  blossoms  precede  the  fruit.  Do  we 
not  see  that  it  is  the  order  of  the  universe,  natural  as  well  as 
moral,  that  there  should  be  a  gradual  development?"^ 

If  one  fails  in  finding  the  real  Darwinian  ideas  ex- 
pressed here  let  him  remember  that  Darwin  did  not 
speak  his  word  till  thirty  years  after  this  was  said.  There 
is  always  more  light  to  break  in  upon  the  word  of  God ! 
Again  !^Ir.  Campbell  says: 

"Moreover,  the  recent  calling  of  the  Gentiles  astonished  all 
the  apostles,  as  an  event  they  had  not  been  looking  for.  It 
was  the  last  evolution  and  development  of  the  manifold  wis- 
dom and  goodness  of  God  to  their  minds;  it  was  the  discovery 
of  the  last  secret  in  the  admirably  gracious  plan  of  God,  with 
respect  to  the  whole  human  race."* 

He  gives  the  subject  of  revelation  a  further  emphasis 
as  he  shows  how  progressive  and  evolutionar\-  it  is : 
"Revelation  opens  a  new  world,  a  new  order  of  relations. 


1  Evi.,  p.  361f.      2C.  B.,p.  26. 

(16)  —241— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


and  gives  birth  to  new  ideas,  which,  as  the  great  apostle  to  the 
nations  says,  'The  eye  of  man  never  saw,  the  ear  of  man 
never  heard,  nor  the  heart  of  man  never  conceived.'  ♦  *  ♦ 
But  the  development  of  the  divine  character,  and  of  all  our  re- 
lations to  God  and  each  other  has  been  progressive,  and  not 
consummated  at  once.  Like  the  path  of  the  just  that  shines 
more  and  more  into  the  perfect  day,  has  been  the  development 
of  the  character  of  God  and  the  extent  of  human  relations  and 
obligations.  *  *  *  jf  ^ny  object  to  this  gradual  and  pro- 
gressive exhibition  of  spiritual  light,  and  impertinently  ask 
why  these  things  should  so  be,  let  him  ask  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  why  at  one  time  the  stars  only  are  visible,  at  an- 
other the  moon,  and  at  another  the  sun.  Let  him  ask  the 
earth  why  there  is  first  the  tender  germ;  next  the  vigorous 
shoot;  next  the  opening  blossom,  and,  by  and  by,  the  mature 
fruit.    *    *  * 

"The  patriarchal  age  is  distinguished  by  those  institutions 
adapted  to  mankind  in  the  infancy  of  the  world.  The  religious 
institutions  of  this  period  found  on  record  are  in  exact  con- 
formity to  the  condition  of  society  in  its  incipient  stages,  and 
confirm  the  pretensions  of  the  volume  which  details  them,  to 
the  antiquity  and  authenticity  which  it  claims."' 

Therefore,  since  God  gradually  and  progressively  re- 
veals himself  to  man  as  the  growing  consciousness  of 
man  becomes  capacitated  to  grasp  him,  Mr.  Campbell  is 
enabled,  with  the  other  prophets  of  his  day,  to  get  a  large 
and  gratifying  outlook.  The  new  era  will  be  inaugurated 
by  the  dawn  of  more  light  upon  the  sacred  oracles.  He 
says : 

"All  wise  and  good  men  expect  a  millennium,  or  a  period 
of  great  happiness,  upon  the  earth.    They  all  argue  that  greater 

1  C.B.,p.  495. 

—242— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


light  than  that  hitherto  possessed  will  be  universally  enjoyed. 
They  do  not  merely  expect  a  universal  subjugation  of  all  na- 
tions, kindreds  and  tongues,  to  the  Lord  Jesus;  they  do  not 
merely  expect  a  state  of  harmony,  peace  and  union  among  all 
citizens  of  heaven;  but  they  look  for  a  vast  accumulation  of 
light  and  knowledge,  religious,  moral,  political.  They  do  not, 
however,  expect  a  new  Bible  or  any  new  revelation  of  the 
Spirit,  but  only  a  more  clear  and  comprehensive  knowledge  of 
the  sacred  writings  which  we  now  enjoy.  This  belief  and  ex- 
pectation of  all  wise  and  good  men  is  unequivocally  declara- 
tive of  the  conviction  that  the  Scriptures  are  not  now  generally 
understood,  and  that  there  are  new  discoveries  of  the  true  and 
genuine  meaning  of  these  sacred  records  yet  to  be  made."^ 

This  growing  consciousness  of  man  gradually  laying 
hold  of  the  partially  revealed  God  puts  the  idea  of  abso- 
lutely perfect  rez'elation,  not  only  into  the  far-off  future, 
but  among  the  impossibles.   He  says : 

"So  long,  then,  as  I  believe  the  Bible  to  be  from  God,  so 
long  I  must  believe  it  to  be  a  perfect  revelation — not  perfect  in 
the  absolute  sense  of  the  word,  for  this  would  not  suit  us  any 
more  than  Paul's  communicating  revelations  which  he  had  in 
the  third  heavens;  but  it  is  perfect  as  adapted  to  man  in  his 
present  circumstances.  Many  things  are  only  hinted  at,  not 
fully  revealed;  and  while  here  we  must  see  as  through  a  glass 
darkly,  but  in  another  state  we  shall  have  a  revelation  of  his 
glory  which  will  be  perfectly  adapted  to  us  in  those  circum- 
stances; but  even  then  that  revelation  will  not  be  absolutely 
perfect,  for  a  revelation  absolutely  perfect  would  make  God  as 
well  known  to  his  creatures  as  he  is  to  himself,  which  I  would 
humbly  say  appears  to  me  impossible."^ 

In  his  debate  on  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  he  takes 

IC.B.,426.      2  C.B.,p.l97. 

—243— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


up  the  question  of  infallibility.  We  have  space  here  to 
take  this  up  only  briefly,  and  will  confine  the  discussion 
to  where  he  seems  to  come  to  the  gist  of  the  whole  mat- 
ter.   He  says : 

"The  question  between  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics  on 
the  subject  of  infallibility  as  respects  the  faith,  is  usually  pro- 
pounded in  the  following  form :  'Is  there  an  infallible  rtde 
of  faith?'  Both  parties  answer  in  the  affirmative.  Then 
'zvhcre  shall  it  be  found?'  Each  party  then  sets  about  defining 
and  wrestling  about  this  said  infallible  rule.  The  Protestant 
says  the  Bible  alone  is  the  infallible  rule ;  and  the  Romanist 
says  the  church,  or  the  Bible  explained  by  the  church,  is  his 
infallible  rule.  Thus  the  Protestant  rests  upon  the  Bible  and 
the  Romanist  upon  the  church — neither  of  which  make  men 
infallible.  *  *  *  There  is,  in  strict  propriet}-,  no  infallible 
rule  -A  faith.  Nor  is  it  possible  there  can  be ;  for  men  and 
angels  have  erred  under  all  rules.  I  wish  to  be  understood. 
The  terms  fallible  and  infallible  do  not  at  all  apply  to  things; 
they  only  apply  to  persons.  We  may  have  a  perfect  and  com- 
plete, or  a  sufficient  rule ;  but  we  cannot  have  an  infallible  one. 
The  fallibility  or  the  infallibility  is  in  the  application  of  the 
rule — not  in  the  rule  itself.  The  mechanician  may  have  a  per- 
fect rule,  and  yet  err  in  measuring  any  superficies.  It  is  not 
possible  in  mechanics,  nor  in  morals,  nor  in  religion,  to  have  a 
rule  which  will  prevent  error  so  long  as  those  who  use  it  are 
free  and  fallible  agents.  *  *  *  I  own,  it  may  be  said,  that 
in  common  parlance  we  figuratively  talk  of  an  infallible  rule. 
I  admit  that  we  do,  and  that  is  the  reason,  when  we  come  to 
debate  the  matter,  the  parties  are  confounded;  for  the  Bible 
alone,  or  the  Bible  on  the  table;  and  the  church  alone,  or  the 
church  and  the  Bible  together,  have  made  no  one  free  from 
error.    Therefore,  there  is  no  infallible  rule  in  truth ;  but  we 

—244— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 

have  a  perfect  rule,  and  if  we  apply  it  perfectly,  it  will  make  us 
perfect."' 

Thus  the  Protestant  and  the  Catholic  are  at  one  as 
they  face  the  dilemma.  Both  the  Protestant  rule  and  the 
Catholic  rule  must  be  interpreted.  They  must  be  brought 
for  interpretation  to  the  touchstone  of  the  hitman  soul. 
The  human  reason  must  pass  upon  the  meaning  and  ar- 
rive at  a  judgment  upon  the  truth.  If  one  does  this  un- 
aided, he  becomes  a  rationalist;  if  superstitiously  and 
emotionally,  he  becomes  a  mystic.  But  let  us  remind  our- 
selves that  this  is  the  age  of  personality,  and  that  in- 
fallibility belongs  to  personality,  not  to  things.  Then 
says  the  Catholic:  I  will  rest  in  the  infallibility  of  the 
Pope.  But  why  do  this?  Why  not  among  the  great 
personalities  select  the  greatest,  the  perfect  Son  of  God? 
About  him  cluster  and  revolve  all  of  truth,  life  and 
reality.  Let  us  come,  then,  with  Herder  and  with  Camp- 
bell, and  bring  the  soul  into  union  with  this  greatest  of 
the  sons  of  men  who  is  also  Son  of  God — then  we  may 
divinely  penetrate  both  the  message  in  the  Bible  and  the 
message  in  the  church  with  our  own  clarified  visions. 
This  will  be  getting  Christ's  viewpoint  of  God's  moral 
world-order;  Christ,  who  is  Light  of  the  World.  Then 
we  shall  be,  not  Catholics,  nor  Protestants,  nor  Rational- 
ists, nor  Mystics,  but  Christians ;  those  who  have  found 
satisfaction  to  their  soul's  deep  craving  for  something  in- 
fallible in  the  personal,  in  the  union  of  their  own  indi- 
vidual souls  with  Jesus  Christ.      Says  Dr.  W.  T.  Moore 

1  D.dnR.  C.,p.  167f. 

—245— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


much  to  the  point:  ^"This  desire  for  infaUibiUty  is  par- 
tially satisfied  in  the  Word  of  God.  The  Divine  Word  is 
a  sure  testimony.  It  is  an  unerring  guide  in  all  that  per- 
tains to  our  religious  life.  But  this  infallibility  must  have 
personality.  It  is  not  enough  to  believe  something  that  is 
certain.  Abstractions  do  not  bring  rest.  Theories  are 
lifeless  things.  Philosophy  is  cold  and  heartless.  Even 
governments  or  laws  do  not  meet  our  case.  The  Bible 
itself,  as  an  end,  would  not  be  sufficient.  So  far  as  in- 
fallibility goes,  it  is  all  assuring.  It  is  everything  we 
claim  for  it  in  that  respect.  Still,  if  it  failed  to  bring  us 
into  contact  with  a  personal  Savior,  all  its  infallibility 
would  be  insufficient  to  meet  our  case.  Our  faith  must 
be  personal,  not  doctrinal,  if  we  would  find  perfect  se- 
curity and  peace.  Hence  the  Bible  introduces  us  to  an 
infallible  Person,  and  asks  us  to  trust  in  him."  And 
Hermann  also  shows  how  we  can  each,  through  his  own 
moral  experience,  enter  into  this  sphere  of  reality,  this 
certain  infallibility :  ^''If  we  have  experienced  His  power 
over  us,  we  need  no  longer  look  for  the  testimony  of 
others  to  enable  us  to  hold  fast  to  His  life  as  a  real 
thing.  We  start,  indeed,  from  the  records,  but  we  do 
not  grasp  the  fact  they  bring  us  until  the  enrichment  of 
our  own  inner  life  makes  us  aware  that  we  have  touched 
the  Living  One.  This  is  true  of  every  personality ;  the 
inner  content  of  any  such  personality  is  laid  open  only  to 
those  who  become  personally  alive  to  it,  and  feel  them- 

1  The  Plea  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  p.  115.      2  Communion  with  God  p.  74. 
—246— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


selves  aroused  by  contact  with  it  and  see  their  horizon 
widened."  Hence  we  have  not  only  a  communicated 
Jesus  handed  over  to  us  by  others  on  printed  page,  but 
arising  within  our  lives  a  ''revelation  of  the  living  to  the 
living." 

If  we  come  to  the  Record  in  this  way  there  is  no  dan- 
ger that  we  shall  fail  in  hearing  the  voice  of  God  speak- 
ing to  our  souls,  be  the  Bible's  structure  ever  so  human 
or  faulty.  Out  of  the  lives  and  experiences  of  those 
prophets  of  the  olden  time  in  whom  God  spoke  in  such 
fragmentary  ways  and  in  such  various  manners  his  voice 
comes  floating  over  all  the  crudeness  of  those  early  ages, 
and,  above  all  the  dimness  of  time.  Yea,  more,  in  these 
later  days  we  hear  God's  voice  calling  in  his  Son.  Jesus 
Christ — the  greatest,  in  the  realm  of  personality;  the  di- 
vinest,  among  the  sons  of  men ;  in  the  sphere  of  morality, 
the  sinless  One;  the  highest  conception  of  what  God  is; 
the  noblest  conception  of  manhood ;  the  grandest  and  most 
compelling  ideal;  the  great  all  in  all,  fulfilling  every 
dream,  desire,  aspiration  and  longing  of  the  soul  of  man 
— there  he  stands,  the  Rock  of  Ages,  the  great  Gibraltar, 
unmoved  before  every  assault  of  destructive  criticism.' 
Thus  from  the  Record  upon  the  parchment  of  paper  and 
ink  stands  forth  this  matchless  Character,  the  embodi- 
ment of  God  himself,  the  very  image  of  his  substance,  the 
effulgence  of  his  glory ;  while  we  behold  his  glory,  glory 
as  of  the  only  begotten  from  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and 
truth.   And  not  once,  but  twice,  yea,  more,  many  times, 

1  c.  f.  Theol.  and  the  Social  Consciousness  (King),  p.  188{. 

—247— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


daily  is  the  living  voice  of  the  Father  heard,  as  we,  each  in 
his  own  moral  warfare  and  experience,  rise  up  into  the 
life  of  the  Christ.  Hence  in  our  fight  for  character  it 
becomes  not  so  much  the  question  of  a  book  as  the  prob- 
lem of  a  life. 

So  in  Mr.  Campbell's  time  the  naive  consciousness  of 
men  zi'as  listening  for  the  sound  of  God's  voice  in  a  me- 
chanically inspired,  unhuman,  inerrant  Bible.  One  in 
w^hich  every  word  from  cover  to  cover  was  the  inspired 
infallible  word  of  God.  If  it  had  been  dropped  down 
through  the  clouds  from  heaven  to  earth  it  would  have 
been  no  more  divine  or  absolutely  perfect.  For,  in  the 
view  of  literalism,  its  writers  were  passive  instruments  in 
God's  hands,  even  to  the  destruction  of  their  own  per- 
sonalities. Like  dead  men,  their  eyes  were  closed  to  the 
light  all  about  them.  They  were  insensible  and  irre- 
sponsive to  God  in  the  world.  They  were  mere  senseless 
machines  being  propelled  by  a  God  above  the  world. 
This  record  which  God  had  mechanically  transmitted 
through  their  inactive  powers  was  a  stereotyped  thing, 
a  letter  to  be  literally  understood  and  slavishly  followed. 
And  men,  in  coming  to  it  to  hear  God's  voice,  must  free 
themselves  of  knowledge,  culture  and  personality  as 
much  as  possible,  -else  the  din  of  the  world's  voices  would 
drown  out  the  voice  divine.  The  God  became  disclosed 
not  in  proportion  to  men's  understanding,  but  propor- 
tionate to  their  ignorance.  The  Bible  thus  became  a 
fixed,  soulless  letter. 

Mr.  Campbell,  on  the  contrary,  came  to  the  Bible  as  a 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


book  of  literature.  Its  uniqueness  and  glory  lay  not  in 
the  idea  that  it  was  unlike  anything  of  earth.  To  him  it 
was  a  human  book  in  composition,  structure  and  style ; 
like  other  books.  It  was  to  be  understood  like  other 
books  with  the  application  of  the  same  critical  rules.  The 
whole  Bible  was  not  the  word  of  God,  but  the  word  of 
God  was  contained  in  the  Bible.  It  contained  a  revela- 
tion of  God,  but  was  not  all  revelation  of  God.  It  was  not 
verbally  inspired,  but  verbally  human.  Yet  both  the  men 
who  wrote  it  and  the  individual  who  seeks  to  interpret  it 
are  active,  and  have  the  help  and  inspiration  of  the  Sp'rit 
of  God.  In  other  words,  the  men  are  inspired,  not  the 
letters  or  the  mechanical  make-up  of  the  book.  This 
book  is  not  a  fixed  parchment,  but  a  living,  growing 
word  of  God.  It  is  a  divine,  progressive  revelation  of 
C^o&  to  man,  and  of  man  to  himself.  To  growing:,  de- 
veloping man  it  becomes  a  constantly  fresh  revelation  as 
he  rises  in  capacity  to  lay  hold  on  God.  Man  may,  there- 
fore, be  on  the  lookout  and  ever  expectant  tor  new  light 
to  flash  from  the  sacred  pages.  Hence  it  is  never  the 
dead  letter,  but  always,  to  ]\Ir.  Campbell,  ''the  living 
oracles." 

We  are  now  able  to  appreciate  Mr.  Campbell's  insist* 
ence  on  coming  to  the  Bible  in  the  right  attitude  that  we 
may  hear  God  speak.  As  Principal  Fairbairn  puts  it: 
"Unless  God  be  heard  in  the  soul  he  will  not  be  found  in 
the  word.  In  revelation  the  living  God  speaks,  not  sim- 
ply has  spoken,  to  living  man."^    This  spirit  of  response 

1  Reconstruction?  in  Theology  (King),  p.  161. 

—249— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


and  capacity  for  vision  Mr.  Campbell  puts  in  the  follow- 
ing form: 

"We  must  come  within  the  understanding  distance.  *  *  * 
All  beyond  that  distance  cannot  understand  God;  all  within 
:t  can  easily  understand  him  in  all  matters  of  piety  and  moral- 
ity. God  himself  is  the  center  of  that  circle,  and  humility  is  its 
circumference.  The  wisdom  of  God  is  as  evident  in  adapting 
the  light  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  to  our  spiritu'il  vision  as 
in  adjusting  the  light  of  day  to  our  eyes.  The  light  reaches 
us  without  an  effort  of  our  own ;  but  we  must  open  our  eyes ; 
and  if  our  eyes  be  sound,  we  enjoy  the  natural  light  of  heaven. 
There  is  a  sound  eye  in  reference  to  spiritual,  as  well  as  in 
reference  to  natural  light.  Now,  while  the  philological  prin- 
ciples and  rules  of  interpretation  enable  many  men  to  be  skillfu: 
in  Biblical  criticism,  and  in  the  interpretation  of  words  and 
sentences,  who  neither  perceive  nor  admire  the  things  repre- 
sented by  these  words,  the  sound  eye  contemplates  the  things 
themselves,  and  is  ravished  with  the  spiritual  and  divine  scenes 
which  the  Bible  unfolds. 

"The  moral  soundness  of  vision  consists  in  having  the  eyes 
of  the  understanding  fixed  solely  on  God  himself,  his  approba- 
tion and  complacent  affection  for  us.  It  is  sometimes  called 
the  single  eye,  because  it  looks  for  one  thing  supremely.  Every 
one,  then,  who  opens  the  Book  of  God  with  one  aim,  with  one 
ardent  desire,  intent  only  to  know  the  will  of  God — to  such 
a  person  the  knowledge  of  God  is  easy;  for  the  Bible  is  framed 
to  illuminate  such,  and  only  such,  with  the  salutary  knowledge 
of  things  spiritual  and  divine. 

"Humility  of  mind,  or  what  is  in  effect  the  same,  contempt 
for  all  earth-born  pre-eminence,  prepares  the  mind  for  the  re- 
ception of  this  light,  or,  what  is  virtually  the  same,  opens  the 
ears  to  hear  the  voice  of  God.  Amidst  the  din  of  all  the  argu- 
ments of  the  flesh,  the  world,  and  Satan,  a  person  is  so  deaf 

—250— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


that  he^  cannot  hear  the  still  small  voice  of  God's  philanthropy. 
But  receding  from  pride,  covetousness  and  false  ambition — 
from  the  love  of  the  world — and  coming  within  that  circle,  the 
circumference  of  which  is  unfeigned  humility,  and  the  center 
of  which  is  God  himself,  the  voice  of  God  is  distinctly  heard 
and  clearly  understood.  All  within  this  circle  are  taught  by 
God.    *    *  * 

"He  then,  that  would  interpret  the  oracles  of  God  to  the 
salvation  of  his  soul,  must  approach  this  volume  with  the 
humility  and  docility  of  a  child,  and  meditate  upon  it  day  and 
night.  Like  Mary,  he  must  sit  at  the  Master's  feet  and  listen 
to  the  words  which  fall  from  his  lips.  To  such  a  one  there  is 
an  assurance  of  understanding,  a  certainty  of  knowledge,  to 
which  the  man  of  letters  alone  never  attained,  and  which  the 
mere   critic   never  felt."^ 

So  Harnack  says :  ^"Humility  is  not  a  virtue  by  itself, 
but  it  is  pure  receptivity,  the  expression  of  inner  need, 
the  prayer  of  God's  grace  and  forgiveness ;  in  a  word, 
the  opening  up  of  the  heart  to  God." 

From  the  partisan  spirit  in  coming  to  the  Bible  Mr. 
Campbell  would  turn  away.  This  was  seen  to  be  one  of 
the  regretted  evils  of  his  day.    He  says : 

"There  is  a  vast  deal  more  of  Bible  reading,  in  these  latter 
days,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  men  to  stand  erect  upon  a 
particular  point  of  faith,  peculiar  to  themselves  or  their  creed, 
than  with  a  view  of  obtaining  a  clear  and  unbiased  under- 
standing and  truthful  appreciation  of  the  intent  and  meaning 
of  Holy  Writ."3 

Again,  he  puts  one  in  way  of  the  true  method  of  hear- 
ing the  voice  of  God.   He  says : 

"Among  the  myriads  who  religiously  read  the  Bible,  why 
1  Bapt.,p.  61f.      2  What  is  Christianity?  p.  79.      3  Lect.  on  Pent.,  p.  308. 
—251— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


is  it  that  so  little  of  the  spirit  of  it  seems  to  be  caught,  pos- 
sessed and  exhibited?  *  *  *  :Many  read  the  Bible  to  have 
a  general  idea  of  what  it  contains,  as  a  necessarj-  part  of  a 
polite  education ;  man}-  read  it  to  attain  the  means  of  proving 
the  dogmas  which  they  already  profess;  many  read  it  with  the 
design  of  being  extremely  wise  in  its  contents ;  many  read  it 
that  they  may  be  able  to  explain  it  to  others;  and  alas!  but  few 
appear  to  read  it  supremely  and  exclusively  that  they  may 
practice  it,  not  only  in  their  outward  deportment  but  in  the 
spirit  and  temper  of  their  minds.  This  is  the  only  reading  of 
it  which  is  really  profitable  to  men,  which  rewards  us  for  our 
pains,  which  consoles  us  now,  and  which  will  be  remembered 
for  ages  to  come  with  inexpressible  delight.  In  this  way  and 
in  this  way  only,  the  spirit  of  it  is  caught,  retained  and  ex- 
hibited. Some  such  readers  seem  to  be  enrapt  or  inspired  with 
its  contents.  Every  sentiment  and  feeling  which  it  imparts 
seems  to  be  the  sentiment  and  feeling  of  their  hearts;  and  the 
Bible  is  to  their  religion  what  the  spirit  is  to  their  body — the 
life  and  activity  thereof.  The  Bible  to  such  a  person  is  the 
medium  of  conversation  with  the  Lord  of  Life.  He  speaks  to 
heaven  in  the  language  of  heaven,  when  he  prays,  in  the  be- 
lief of  its  truth,  and  the  Great  God  speaks  to  him  in  the  same 
language;  and  thus  the  true  and  intelligent  Christian  walks 
with  God  and  converses  with  him  every  day."^ 

In  harmony  with  these  same  contentions  is  the  idea 
expressed  by  Dr.  Dods :  '"Roughly,  therefore,  the  Bible 
is  called  the  revelation  of  God  because  it  brings  before 
us  in  a  written  record  what  God  has  done  to  make  Him- 
self known,  and  what  God-inspired  men  have  seen  in 
that  revelation  and  have  thought  of  God.  Obviously, 
this  involves  that  in  order  to  appreciate  and  use  the  Bible 


1  C.  B  .  p.  22S.      2  The  Bibk:  Its  Origin  and  Nature,  p.  102. 

—252— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


the  reader  of  it  must  himself  have  the  same  spirit  which 
enabled  its  writers  to  understand  the  revelation  of  God 
and  to  record  it.  The  Bible  is  a  record,  but  it  is  not  a 
dead  record  of  dead  persons  and  events,  but  a  record  ni- 
spired  by  a  living  Spirit  who  uses  it  to  speak  to  men  now. 
It  is  more  than  a  phonograph  which  has  mechanically 
stored  up  for  ages  the  words  and  tones  of  the  original 
speaker.  It  is  the  medium  through  which  the  living  God 
now  makes  Himself  heard  and  known.  But  to  find  in  it 
the  Spirit  of  God  the  reader  must  himself  have  the 
Spirit." 

We  are  now  ready  to  learn  from  Mr.  Campbell  how  he 
would  have  the  comer  to  the  Bible  know  of  a  certainty 
that  its  voice  is  the  divine  voice.  What  are  its  marks? 
Has  it  the  proper  credentials?  Does  it  speak  with  an 
evidence  that  arrests,  appeals  to  and  satisfies  the  intel- 
lectual, moral  and  spiritual  nature  of  man? 


—253— 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Certainty  of  the  Divine  Voice. 


Let  us  rather  measure  it  (Bible)  by  the  divine  unity  of 
ethical  purpose  which  runs  through  it  from  the  first  to  last, 
which  never  fails  through  age  after  age,  and  which  proves 
itself  to  be  the  work  of  God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  and 
Savior  Jesus  Christ.  *  *  *  It  is  the  Word,  and  its  power 
to  give  life  to  the  soul,  that  is  the  miracle.  *  *  *  The  di- 
vine essence  of  the  Bible  consists  in  this — the  marvelous  story, 
how  it  tells  us  that  that  moral  warfare  of  ours  is  shared  by 
God  him.self,  that  the  divine  nature  descended  into  that  war- 
fare, that  it  bears  the  agony  of  strife — nay,  the  shame  and  the 
curse  of  it! — all  for  man's  salvation.    *   *  * 

Not  that  it  fits  the  older  theories  of  inspiration,  but  that, 
independently  of  all  human  theories  of  inspiration,  it  carries 
home  to  the  hearts  and  consciences  and  the  souls  of  sinful 
men,  that  otherwise  would  remain  in  sin  but  for  this  strange 
and  almost  incredible  story  of  God's  love,  God's  sacrifice  and 
agony  for  them.  It  therefore  carries  that  story  home  to  their 
hearts  and  souls,  needing  no  proof  for  itself,  appealing  only 
in  its  own  strength.  That  is  why  the  Bible  shall  always  be  the 
indispensable  force  to  man's  salvation,  the  one  so  unique  and 
conspicuous,  the  divine  power  for  man's  salvation  in  the  min- 
istry of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Study  your  Bibles  for  this  alone,  and 
believe  in  it  because  it  gives  to  you  this  naked  truth  of  God's 
love. — George  Adam  Smith  (Bible  Criticism  and  the  Average 
Man. — Johnson,  p.  48f). 


—256^ 


CHAPTER  VI. 


CERTAINTY  OF  THE  DIVINE  VOICE. 

Mr.  Campbell  was  not  obliged  to  waste  energy  in  prov- 
ing to  the  satisfaction  of  his  own  soul  the  existence  of 
God.  As  for  Kant,  the  starry  heavens  above  and  the 
moral  law  within  spoke  for  him.    Mr.  Campbell  says : 

"To  call  upon  a  rational  being  to  prove  the  being  and  per- 
fections of  God  is  like  asking  a  man  to  prove  that  he  exists 
himself.  *  *  *  The  proofs  of  his  existence  become  as  nu- 
merous as  the  drops  of  dew  from  the  womb  of  the  morning — 
as  innumerable  as  the  blades  of  grass  produced  by  the  renovat- 
ing influences  of  spring;  ever}-thing  within  us  and  everything 
without,  from  the  nails  upon  the  ends  of  our  fingers  to  the  sun, 
moon  and  stars,  confirm  the  idea  of  his  existence  and  adorable 
excellencies."^ 

Coming  to  the  Bible  dispossessed  of  opinions  pro  and 
con  he  allows  it  to  speak  its  oz^m  zi'ortJi.  After  a  con- 
sideration of  its  sublime  ethical  nature,  he  says : 

"Books,  written  with  such  a  design,  with  a  design  to  purify, 
elevate  and  glorify  the  debased  and  degraded  children  of  men 
*  *  *  most  assuredly  come  with  a  divine  character  to  man. 
Their  claims  on  the  attention  and  examination  of  those  to  whom 
they  are  presented  most  certainly  are  paramount  to  all  others."- 

"From  the  object  and  character  of  the  book  of  revelation, 
its  divine  authority  can  be  most  triumphantly  argued."^ 

1  Evi.,  p.  402.      2  Uv.  Or.,  p.  25.     3  Bapt.,  p. 30. 
(17)  —257— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


In  this  most  congenial  atmosphere  of  the  Bible  the 
true  objects  of  its  inherent  worth  stand  out  prominently. 
Aside  from  the  ethical  considerations  which  are  so  inter- 
woven in  its  very  texture  and  pervade  the  whole  atmos- 
phere of  the  book,  he  mentions  "a  peculiar  originality  of 
character;"  "sl  simple,  artless  and  sublime"  style;  "a 
most  striking  unity  of  design,"  etc.  Thus  he  is  won 
to  the  Bible  as  friend  is  won  to  friend,  and  as  lover  to 
lover.  The  Bible  out  of  its  own  deep  riches  makes  its 
lasting  and  effective  appeal.  This  is  the  fact  that  Dr. 
Selleck  so  beautifully  illustrates :  ^'*The  diamond  does 
not  command  our  aesthetic  love  by  saying  anything,  but 
by  simply  being  a  diamond  and  lying  still  before  us  in 
all  its  purity  and  perfection."  So  with  the  lily,  the  great 
literary  production,  the  noble  deed,  and  the  lovable  char- 
acter, he  points  out.  *'Its  own  intrinsic  excellence  has 
power  to  win  us  to  itself,  to  awaken  within  us  and  draw 
out  from  us  the  best  thought  and  feeling  of  which  we  are 
capable.  Such  is  always  the  power  of  real  excellence  in 
any  form — real  worth,  real  beauty,  real  goodness,  real 
love ;  it  makes  its  own  impression  upon  the  human  soul ; 
and  in  contrast  with  it  how  poor  and  hollow  are  all  coun- 
terfeits, all  falsehoods,  all  shams,  all  affectations,  by  what- 
ever artifices  they  may  be  foisted  upon  us !" 

Mr.  Campbell  thinks  it  both  possible  and  probable  that 
God  has  spoken  to  man.  In  various  ways  he  argues 
this  out.  Moreover,  he  appeals  to  the  claim  of  rational- 
ity, that  if  there  were  no  God  or  voice  of  God  to  man 

1  The  New  Appreciation  of  the  Bible,  p.  209. 

—258— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


this  world  would  not  be  as  it  is,  either  a  rational  world 
in  thinking,  or  a  rational  world  in  living.  So  the  nega- 
tive picture  presents  itself  to  his  mind  as  he  says : 

''Among  earth's  inhabitants  there  is  one  class  of  beings  for 
whose  creation  and  comfort  all  others  do  exist.  Man  is  the 
name  of  that  class  of  beings.  He  is  the  end  of  this  terrestial 
creation.  If  he  be  lost — forever  lost — all  is  lost.  Crops  of 
vegetables  annually  spring  out  of  the  earth,  and  return  to  it 
again.  Races  of  animals  feed  upon  them  and  die.  They,  like 
their  food,  but  enrich  the  earth.  Day  and  night  succeed  each 
other.  Years  revolve.  The  earth  turns  upon  its  axis,  wheels 
around  its  orbit,  feeds  and  buries  all  its  tenantry.  Man  him- 
self and  his  food  alike  perish  forever.  *  *  *  jf  i^^^n  lives 
not  again — if  the  Bible  be  not  true — nature  labors  in  vain;  and 
if  there  be  no  Creator,  he  works  without  a  plan,  and  toils  for 
no  purpose.  Nature  is  an  abortion,  and  the  whole  machinery  of 
the  universe   a   splendid  failure."^ 

"Is  he  doomed  to  spring  up  like  the  grass,  bloom  like  a 
flower,  drop  his  seed  into  the  earth,  and  die  forever?  Is  there 
no  object  of  future  hope?  No  God,  no  heaven,  no  exalted 
society  to  be  known  or  enjoyed?  Are  all  the  great  and  illus- 
trious men  and  women  who  have  lived  before  we  were  born 
wasted  and  gone  forever?  After  a  few  short  days  are  fled, 
when  the  enjoyments  and  toils  of  life  are  over;  when  our 
relish  for  social  enjoyment,  and  toils  of  life  are  over;  when  our 
the  fountain  of  life  are  most  acute ;  must  we  hang  our  heads 
and  close  our  eyes  in  the  desolating  and  appalling  prospect  of 
never  opening  them  again,  of  never  tasting  the  sweets  for 
which  a  state  of  discipline  and  trial  has  so  well  fitted  us? 
These  are  the  awful  and  sublime  merits  of  the  question  at 
issue.  It  is  not  what  we  shall  eat,  nor  what  we  shall  drink, 
unless  we  shall  be  proved  to  be  mere  animals ;  but  it  is,  shall 

1  Bapt.,  p,  33f. 

— 25&— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


we  live  or  die  forever?  It  is  as  beautifully  expressed  by  a 
Christian  poet: 

"Shall  spring  ever  visit  the  mouldering  urn? 
Shall  day  ever  dawn  on  the  night  of  the  grave  ?"^ 

After  a  thorough  consideration,  he  comes  to  this  firm 
conclusion : 

"That  the  Bible  contains  a  revelation  from  God  is  susceptible 
of  every  variety  and  degree  of  evidence  which  guides  men  in 
the  affairs  of  this  life.  We  have  no  species  of  moral  evidence 
that  affords  to  mankind  a  higher  degree  of  assurance  than  that 
on  which  the  Prophets  and  Apostles  demand  our  unwavering 
confidence.  If  we  admit  that  there  is  truth  in  history,  sin- 
cerity in  martyrdom,  value  in  learning,  advantage  in  talent, 
excellency  in  truth,  reason  in  the  universe,  or  a  Creator  in  the 
heavens ;  then  must  we  admit  the  Bible  is  inspired  by  infinite 
wisdom,  and  presented  to  man  by  his  Almighty  Father  and 
Benefactor."^ 

Under  the  power  of  God's  Love-Volume,  he  is  made 
to  cry  out: 

"The  word  of  God.  It  will  stand  forever.  Till  the  heavens 
pass  away,  not  one  word  shall  fail.  Mountains,  by  the  wasting 
hand  of  time,  may  crumble  down  to  dust;  oceans  may  recede 
from  their  ancient  limits ;  the  heavens  and  the  earth  may  pass 
away,  but  God's  word  shall  never,  never  pass  away.  It  is 
God's  might}^  moral  lever,  by  which  he  raises  man  from  earth 
to  heaven.  It  is  his  almighty,  awful,  sublime  and  gracious  will, 
imbodied  in  such  a  medium  as  can  enter  the  secret  chambers  of 
the  human  heart  and  conscience,  and  there  stand  up  for  God, 
and  confound  the  sinner  in  his  presence.  The  love  of  God  is 
all  enveloped  in  it.  and  that  is  the  great  secret  of  its  charm— 

lEvi.,p,  20.  2Bapt.,p.36. 

—260— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


the  mystery  of  its  power  to  save.  It  is  love,  and  love  alone, 
that  can  reconcile  the  heart  of  man  to  God."^ 

Among  the  world's  best  literature  this  book  is  supreme 
in  evoking  the  noblest  from  man.    He  says : 

"For  who  knows  not  that  the  chief  of  our  gratifications  con- 
sist in  the  exercise  of  our  minds  upon  the  most  lovely  and  in- 
teresting objects?  And  what  can  equal  for  grandeur,  for 
beauty,  for  variety,  for  interest,  for  permanency,  the  glorious, 
the  wonderful  and  lovely  objects  presented  to  our  minds  in  the 
Holy  Scripture,  to  allure  our  souls  to  the  love  of  piety  and 
benevolence — of  all  manner  of  virtue  and  goodness?"^ 

Also  in  inspiring  the  highest  motives  it  is  a  book  un- 
surpassed.   He  says: 

"We  have,  in  the  document  before  us,  young  gentlemen,  a 
development  of  the  power  of  motives,  of  more  value  in  the 
education  of  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  men — revealing  more 
and  better  knowledge  of  both  God  and  man — than  all  the 
studied,  logical  and  rhetorical  lectures  upon  the  beauty  of  vir- 
tue, and  everything  else  in  the  way  of  spruce  and  tinseled 
oratory,  even  addressed  to  man."^ 

He  is  able,  after  a  discussion  of  forty-eight  pages,  to 
come  to  this  conclusion  on  the  Gospel  about  which  the 
whole  Bible  clusters  and  revolves : 

"Our  faith  in  the  gospel,  we  now  conclude  from  these  mere 
specimens  of  evidence,  rests  upon  the  clearest  and  most  solid 
basis.  It  rests  upon  miracles  well  attesled  by  others,  and  on 
miracles  seen  by  ourselves.  It  rests  upon  the  purity  of  its 
doctrine,  the  majesty  and  the  excellency  of  its  precepts,  the 
riches  and  fullness,  and  the  glory  of  its  promises.  It  rests  upon 
the  perfect  originality,  the  unity,  the  grandeur,  and  the  divine 

iBapt.p.310.      2Evi.,p.245.      3  Lect.  on  Pent.,  p.  114. 

—261— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


sublimit}'  of  its  adorable  Author.  It  was  promulgated  by  the 
purest,  the  noblest  and  the  most  disinterested  heralds  that  ever 
announced  a  new  doctrine  to  men.  It  was  sustained  by  their 
godly  sincerity,  their  toils,  their  privations,  their  endurance  of 
evil,  and  their  glorious  martyrdom  for  its  sake.  It  enrolls 
among  its  bclie-v  ers  and  defenders  the  greatest,  the  wisest,  the 
best  and  the  most  gifted  of  mankind.  All  that  we  love,  ad- 
mire and  venerate  in  human  character,  appears  in  the  boldest 
relief  in  the  piety,  humanity  and  universal  excellence  of  its 
friends  and  admirers.  It  confers  upon  all  its  fully  initiated 
disciples  the  whole  circle  of  graces  that  adorn  human  nature 
and  fills  their  lives  with  the  largest  and  richest  clusters  of  the 
delicious  fruits  of  benevolence  and  mercy.  It  is  just  such  a 
message  from  the  throne  of  heaven,  had  we  been  duly  en- 
lightened, we  might  have  expected ;  such  a  glorious  display  of 
divinity  and  humanity  as  fully  and  eternally  glorifies  God,  and 
bestows  infinite  honor  and  happiness  on  man."^ 

Although  Mr.  Campbell  was  living  at  a  time  just  prior 
to  the  widespread  recognition  of  the  worth  of  the  ethical 
in  the  appeal  of  truth,  yet  his  discussions  give  a  large 
place  to  the  ethical  trend  in  the  Bible  as  witnessing  to 
its  divinity. 

No  one  more  than  he  felt  the  ijn possibility  of  proving 
the  diznneness  of  the  Bible  to  all.    He  says: 

"Some  persons  object  to  the  Bible — because,  as  they  say, 
its  divine  inspiration  is  yet  a  subject  of  debate.  Such  thinkeis 
and  reasoners  are  grossly  defective  in  reason  and  education. 
Did  ever  any  one  hear  of  anything  that  has  been  proved  to  all 
the  world?  *  *  *  But  shall  we  say  that  no  proposition  is 
proved  because  it  is  not  proved  to  the  whole  world?  The 
gospel  will  never  be  out  of  debate  while  there  is  one  infidel  or 

1  Bapt.,  p.  48. 

—262— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


skeptic  in  the  world.  This  is,  however,  no  more  a  disparage- 
ment of  its  truth,  or  its  claims  upon  all  mankind,  than  it  is  an 
argument  against  any  proposition,  fact  or  testimony,  that  all  the 
world  has  not  yet  acquiesced  in  its  truth. 

"We  cannot  believe  by  proxy,  as  nations,  as  empires,  or  as 
worlds.  We  must  each  one  believe  for  himself.  Hence  the 
evidence  must  be  considered,  understood  and  appreciated  by 
even,'  individual  for  himself."^ 

So  he  says  he  will  argue  not  the  Bible's  truth  with 
such  opponents.  He  turns  rather  to  the  ethical  fruits 
which  its  truths  have  borne  in  an  uncongenial  and  world- 
opposing  atmosphere.  Here  he  finds  it  standing  "like 
the  pillars  of  Hercules,  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar,  or  the  ever- 
lasting mountains,"  bidding  "defiance  to  all  the  billows 
of  the  ocean,  and  to  all  the  tempests  of  Satan,  to  shake  it 
from  its  immovable  basis."  "We  are  willing  to  test  the 
tree  by  its  fruits."'^ 

He  felt  the  inability  of  all  compelling  proof  which  was 
merely  external  when  he  said : 

"No  man  can  love  by  the  mere  force  of  precept.  No  man 
can  love  merely  because  he  is  commanded  to  love.  It  must 
come,  if  at  all,  spontaneously,  upon  the  presentation  of  beauty.'" 

There  must  be  the  evoking  of  the  soul's  credence  upon 
the  real  worth,  the  inherent  excellence  which  the  object 
presents.  The  response  must  be  natural,  true  and  im- 
pelling. Merely  abstract,  mathematical,  logical  reason- 
ing will  not  accomplish  this.  The  real  claims  of  God 
and  the  Bible  must  be  confined  within  the  personal — 
hence  the  evidential  value  of  the  ethical  and  the  truly 

1  Bapt.,  p.  35.     2  Bapt.,  p.  36  (c,  f,  also  Evi.,  p.  iii).  3  i.ect.  on  Pent.,  p.  373. 
— 2«3— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


religious.  The  metaphysical  and  impersonal  receded  into 
the  background,  ix'ith  Mr.  Campbell,  while  the  personal, 
with  its  ethical  and  its  religious  practicality,  stepped  in 
before.    Therefore  he  can  say : 

"Man  has  a  mind  to  appreciate  the  goodness  of  God.  He  has 
the  Bible — the  throne  of  grace — ever  accessible,  and  a  glorious 
Mediator!  And  what  more  than  these  can  he  ask  or  need? 
If  he  will  permit  the  evidence  of  God's  love  to  permeate  his 
heart,  he  will  reciprocate  that  love,  and  if  he  have  that  love, 
he  will  manifest  it  to  his  brother  man,  as  well  as  to  the  Lord 
Jesus,  for,  like  the  sun,  it  is  a  glorious  center  of  radiation — 
an  ever-active  principle,  diffusing  light  and  heat  throughout  the 
sphere  of  its  influence.'"^ 

Again,  as  he  turns  from  the  unconvincing  outward  and 
sensuous  beauty,  he  exclaims : 

■'There  is  a  beauty  of  holiness  which  eclipses  the  sensuous 
as  the  bright  rays  of  the  noonday  sun  eclipse  the  glimmering 
light  of  the  twinkling  star."" 

Love,  he  finds,  is  the  basis  of  Divine  action ;  Love  and 
sacrifice  together,  hand  in  hand,  run  through  all  God's 
universe,  both  in  its  natural  and  spiritual  aspects.  Love 
therefore  becomes  the  keynote  of  Mr.  Campbell's  song 
of  God  and  of  life,  with  its  undertone  of  sacrifice.  He 
says : 

"God  so  loved  the  world  as  to  give  his  own  Son — the  be- 
loved— to  save  it.  The  love  of  God  is  the  parent  of  the  uni- 
verse.    It  passes  all  understanding.     We  may  apprehend  it. 

1  Lect.  on  Pent.,  p.  361.      -  Lect.  Pent.,  p,  354. 

—264— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


No  man  has  scaled  its  heights,  nor  fathomed  its  depths.  No 
language  can  express  it."^ 

"I  never  see  the  tear,  trembling  upon  the  eyelid  of  the 
grief-stricken  mother,  without  thinking  of  the  love  of  God."^ 

"The  brightness  of  the  sun  at  noonday  dazzles  the  eye  of 
man;  yet  what  is  it  but  the  shadow  of  the  glory  of  God?"^ 

"The  blue  vault  of  heaven,  without  a  single  star,  declares 
the  glory  of  God's  throne,  while  the  systems  of  planets,  in  the 
order  and  perfection  of  their  being,  are 

"  'Forever  singing,  as  they  shine. 
The  hand  that  made  us  is  divine.*  "* 

So  he  can  say: 

"We  can  reason  to  a  certain  point,  and  there  we  stop  for- 
ever. *  *  *  It  is  faith,  I  repeat,  it  is  faith  that  saves,  and 
anchors  the  soul  of  man  in  the  heaven  of  eternal  bliss."^ 

He  can  say  of  the  Bible : 

"If  there  be  anything  in  its  matter  which  may  seem  at  first 
view  to  be  rather  abstract  in  its  nature,  the  illusion  disappears 
in  the  light  which  follows  the  concentrated  study — the  intelli- 
gent investigation  of  the  beautiful  truths  and  practical  realities 
found  throughout  the  living  oracles  of  truth."^ 

He  is  able  to  conclude: 

"But,  study  Him  as  we  will,  in  nature  or  revelation, 
providence  or  redemption,  we  can  find  no  point  of  observation 
from  which  a  shadow  rests  upon  his  benevolence."^ 

Therefore,  he  re -emphasizes  the  fact  that, 

"The  universe  itself  is  but  the  offspring  of  God's  love.  It 
was  not  created  simply  because  he  had  the  wisdom  and  the 
power  to  do  it.    The  element  of  love  entered  into  the  inten- 

iLect.  on  Pent.,  p.  315.  2  ibid.,  p.  316.  3  ibid.,  p.  309.  4  ibid.,  p.  313. 
6  Ibid.,  p.  315.      6  Ibid., p.  309.      ^  Ibid.,  p.  310. 

—265— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


tion,  characterized  the  execution  and  approved  the  completion 
of  his  labors."^ 

Thus  we  find  Lotze  turning  from  the  speculative  idea : 
^  "We  must  rather  adopt  the  old  religious  view,  which 
finds  in  the  loving  will  of  God  both  the  ground  and  rea- 
son of  a  creation  of  a  world  of  spirits  within  whom  the 
true  glor}-  of  God  can  be  an  infinitely  diversified  enjoy- 
ment, and  of  an  order  of  phenomena  helping  as  means  to 
bring  this  about." 

So  Robert  Browning  can  look  out  upon  God's  world 
and  say: 

"O  world,   as  God  has  made  it! 

All  is  beauty; 
And  knowing  this  is  love, 
And  love  is  duty." 

And  again : 

"He  who  in  all  His  works  below 
Adapted  to  the  needs  of  man, 
Made  love  the  basis  of  the  plan." 

Still  again: 

"I  have  faith  such  end  shall  be; 
From  the  first.  Power  was — I  knew. 
Life  has  made  clear  to  me 

That,  strive  but  for  closer  view, 
Love  were  as  plain  to  see." 

The  question  of  a  loving  God  in  nature  and  in  the 
Bible  was  once  a  matter  of  logical  proof.    It  is  now  a 


1  Lect.on  Pent.,p.  312.     2  The  Phil,  of  Religion  (Lotze-Conybeare) ,  p.  124. 
—266— 


Alexander  Cani^bell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


matter  of  seeing  God,  rather  than  of  trying  to  demon- 
strate him  in  formal  logical  terms.  Mr.  Campbell  had 
not  much  patience  with  those  who,  standing  within  the 
full  blaze  of  God's  presence,  failed  to  see  him.  To  him 
God  was  everywhere  visible  in  love. 

What,  do  you  fail  to  see  God  as  you  look  out  amid 
the  warring  elements  of  time?  And  as  you  go  to  his 
Word  is  he,  indeed,  nowhere  to  be  seen  or  heard?  In 
his  book  and  without  his  book  is  his  love  any  less  made 
manifest  than  his  power? 

Right  here  is  the  world's  admiration  for  Robert  Brown- 
ing. Herein  lies  his  peculiar  force  and  merit  as  a  re- 
ligious teacher.  He  has  that  rare  capacity  of  being  able 
to  find  Love,  the  great  reality,  ezerywhere.  And  this 
Love  is  God.  This  was  no  Godless  world  to  Browning, 
and  simply  because  he  savv^  it  to  be  no  loveless  world. 
To  him  all  else  of  the  universe  is  mere  framework;  but 
God  and  the  soul  stand  sure,  back  of  all  the  mechanism, 
and  were  ever  looking  out  in  love.  In  his  poem  "Want- 
ing Is — What?"  he  imagines  such  a  loveless.  Godless 
world,  and  calls  upon  Love  to  come  and  supply  the  want : 

"Wanting  is — what? 

Summer  redundant, 

Blueness  abundant, 

— Where  is  the  blot? 
Beamy  the  world,  yet  a  blank  all  the  same, 
Framework  which  waits  for  a  picture  to  frame. 
What  of  the  leafage,  what  of  the  flower? 
Roses  embowering  with  naught  they  embower ! 
Come  then,  complete  incompletion,  O  comer, 
—267— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 

Pant  through  the  blueness,  perfect  the  summer! 
Breathe  but  one  breath 
Rose-beauty  above, 
And  all  that  was  death 
Grows  life,  grows  love, 
Grows  love." 

A  world  without  love,  a  Godless  world,  would  be  only 
structure,  mere  machinery,  an  awful  blot.  What  would 
be  the  highest  delights  of  Nature  with  its  beauty,  color 
and  fragrance,  with  no  soul  to  love  and  to  be  loved  by? 
What  would  be  the  harmonies  of  the  universe  without 
the  melody  of  mutually  listening  souls  ?  Simply  a  blank  ! 
Without  God  and  the  personal  souls  of  his  creatures, 
without  love,  the  universe  would  be  without  meaning, 
without  purpose,  unsatisfying,  irrational.  Since  the  ar- 
rival of  Love  all  else  has  its  place,  meaning,  significance 
and  value.  And  this  is  just  the  kind  of  world  we  know. 
One  in  which  ''grows  life,  grows  love,  grows  love." 

So  everywhere  Browning  finds  love  peeping  out  from 
behind  the  scenery  of  the  universe.  There  may  be  mo- 
ments when  one  is  sunk,  but  the  times  are  rare  when 
"the  spirit's  true  endowments"  stand  not  out  ''plainly 
from  its  false  ones."  For  him  "God  is  in  all,  and  through 
all,  and  over  all."  All,  of  good  or  ill,  of  joy  or  pain,  of 
love  or  hate,  yea,  everything  was  leading  him  into  the 
mansion  of  God's  love.  Every  pathway  of  life  led  home 
to  God  when  the  soul  stood  sure.  One  might  strew 
earth's  pathway  with  roses,  unobserved  by  human  eye ; 
he  might  sing  melodies,  unlistened  to  by  mortal  man — 

—268— 


Alexander  Caiupbeil  and  Christian  Liberty. 


but  in  the  very  effort  of  this  love-task  his  soul  was  grow- 
ing into  the  great  Father's  love.  Others  may  have 
turned  from  him  and  lost  the  love-gift,  but  love  itself 
was  not  lost;  in  the  very  bringing  he  had  gained  the 
prize ;  God  and  heaven  were  won.  His  soul  had  come  up 
through  love  into  Love.  Everything  human  was  talk- 
ing to  Browning  of  God  and  Divine  love.  Every  human 
love  led  him  into  the  Love  Chamber  of  God's  presence, 
The  leaf,  the  star,  the  moulted  feather,  the  chord  of 
music,  the  face  sweet  and  sad,  the  misplaced  love,  the  ill 
of  life,  the  world's  noisome  roar,  the  silence — all  were 
ever  leading  him  into  the  world  of  infinite  love.  From 
the  things  of  earth  his  soul  was  always  leaping  up  to  God. 
Whenever  and  wherever  he  could  find  love,  he  was  never 
at  loss  to  find  God. 

Who  is  there,  then,  able  to  stand  in  the  presence  of 
such  love  made  manifest  and  yet  ask  for  proof  of  a  lov- 
ing God  ?  Both  outside  the  Book  and  within  the  Book  he 
"Stands  revealed  in  sacrificial  love.  Were  I  to  dip  my  pen 
into  the  sunlight,  and  write  in  shining  letters  of  gold, 
upon  the  petals  of  all  the  flowers  of  earth,  so  that  all  the 
world  might  read,  this  sentence,  "God  is  love were  I  to 
turn  from  creation  to  the  book  which  holds  the  sweetest 
story  ever  told,  and  dip  my  pen  into  the  flow  of  Calvary, 
and  then  turn  to  the  great  blue  sky  above  and  write  in 
large  crimson  letters,  so  that  all  the  world  might  read, 
this  sentence,  "God  is  love" — it  would  be  no  plainer  writ- 
ten than  it  is  to-day.  The  way  of  the  Book  is  but  the 
way  of  the  world;  it  is  the  only  love-way;  love  coming 

—269— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


by  the  way  of  the  cross;  through  sacrifice  and  pain; 
through  suffering  and  tears;  through  the  yielding  up  of 
the  best;  reserving  nothing,  but  giving  all — this  is  life, 
this  is  love,  while  the  Great  Heart  of  Love  stands  re- 
vealed. "Herein  was  the  love  of  God  manifested  in  our 
case,  that  God  hath  sent  his  only  begotten  Son  into  the 
world  that  we  might  live  through  him."    (I  John,  4:9.) 

The  day  of  the  divine  demonstration  is  past,  i.  e.,  try- 
ing to  prove  God  and  the  Bible  in  terms  of  formal 
thought  and  logic.  Dr.  King  gives  us  his  mature  thought 
upon  the  theistic  arguments.  After  thinking  the  whole 
matter  through  from  all  that  has  been  said  upon  both 
the  arguments — that  the  world  is  a  sphere  of  rational 
thinking;  "the  real  is  rational"  (its  Hegalian  form),  and 
the  arguments — that  the  world  is  a  sphere  of  rational 
living;  "that  which  is  most  worthy  must  exist"  (its 
Lotzian  form) — Dr.  King  in  his  latest  word  says:  ^"To 
see,  now,  the  fundamental  nature  of  these  two  great  as- 
sumptions that  underlie  all  our  thinking  and  living,  is 
really  to  see  that  the  existence  of  a  God  of  reason  and 
love  is  so  certain  and  fundamental  a  fact  that  it  really 
has  to  be  assumed  in  all  thinking  and  living — a  fact  that 
cannot  be  proved  just  because  it  is  the  basis  of  all  proof. 
^  >k  ^  He  cannot  be  proved,  because  his  existence  is 
necessarily  assumed  in  all  proof.  *  *  The  re- 
ligious postulate,  thus  is  necessary  to  all  the  rest  of 
life." 

Professor  James  says  of  the  words,  God,  free-will,  de- 

1  The  Seeming  Unreality  of  the  Spiritual  lyife  (King,  1908) ,  p.  205f . 
—270— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


sign,  etc. :  ^'Yet  dark  though  they  be  in  themselves,  or 
intellectuaHstically  taken,  when  we  bear  them  into  life's 
thicket  with  us  the  darkness  there  grows  light  about  us. 
*  *  *  Pragmatism  alone  can  read  a  positive  mean- 
ing into  it,  and  for  that  she  turns  her  back  upon  the  in- 
tellectualist  point  of  view  altogether.  'God's  in  his 
heaven ;  all's  right  with  the  world !'  That's  the  real  heart 
of  your  theology,  and  for  that  you  need  no  rationalist 
definitions." 

This  has  been  the  real  difficulty  in  men's  approach  to 
God  and  the  characters  of  the  Bible.  They  have  come  to 
them  as  words,  the  content  of  which  is  to  be  explained 
in  terms  of  thought,  demonstrated  in  logical  proposi- 
tions, and  believed  with  an  assent  of  mind,  instead  of 
treating  them  as  friends  to  be  seen,  associated  with  self, 
and  carried  into  the  thick  of  life.  This  approach  to  the 
Bible  has  been  with  the  preconceived  idea  that  it  is  so 
unlike  nature  and  life,  God's  other  creations.  On  the 
other  hand,  men  have  misunderstood  the  Bible  and  God 
simply  because  they  were  holding  false  scientific  notions. 
They  have  thought  that  in  nature  is  seen  only  the  strug- 
gle for  life.  While  the  real  truth  is  that,  after  all,  this  is 
in  its  nature  an  ethical  law;  it  is  only  an  election  for 
service ;  and  is  supplemented  by  that  higher  law  that  runs 
through  the  universal  order,  the  struggle  for  the  life  of 
others.  Sacrifice  is  everywhere  without  the  book  and 
within  the  book.  And  sacrifice  is  love.  The  world,  per- 
haps, is  not  now  better  able  to  reason  in  a  logical,  syllogis- 

1  Pragmatism  (James),  p.  121f. 

—271— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


tic  way  than  in  the  days  of  Aristotle.  But  it  has  its  eyes 
open  to  facts  as  they  are.  It  can  see  more.  It  can  see 
God,  and  everywhere  hear  his  voice.  God  and  the  Bible 
are  now  seen  to  be  love,  because  they  are  sacrificial. 
This  great  fact  of  sacifice  is  not  so  appalling  as  it  once 
was.  Since  its  immensity  has  been  grasped,  and  its 
ethical  nature  understood,  it  is  found  to  be  love  that  we 
are  beholding.  In  the  very  light  of  Biblical  criticism 
and  of  science,  God  stands  both  without  and  within  the 
book  as  the  creating,  sacrificing  and  loving  Father.  And, 
while  the  material  world  gives  us  only  glimpses,  the 
spiritual  world  gives  us  whole  and  perfect  views  of  God's 
goodness  and  love.  Outside  the  personal  the  story  of 
his  wondrous  love  has  never  half  been  told.  The  love- 
burst  of  the  natural  world  (the  cosmos),  the  sun  giving 
forth  its  light  and  power,  the  trees  sending  out  their 
buds,  the  plants  putting  forth  their  flowers,  all  existence 
yielding  up  energy  for  other  and  better  existence — is  as 
nothing  in  comparison  with  the  love-expression  of  the 
spiritual  world;  self-conscious  love,  voluntarily  being 
spent  and  losing  itself  for  others,  the  very  incarnation  of 
the  Divine  life  given  for  men,  the  great  God  himself 
agonizing  and  suffering  with  and  for  his  creatures.  Why, 
"the  glories  of  creation  are  lost  amid  the  splendors  of  re- 
demption !"  In  the  cosmic  sphere  it  is  existence  for  ex- 
istence. In  the  realm  of  the  personal  it  is  life  for  life, 
not  unlike  except  in  degree,  not  unlike  except  in  worth. 

Therefore  Drummond  can  sound  the  depths  of  the 
sacrifice  in  creation  and  then  tell  us  about  the  'Xove- 


Alexander  CaniphcII  and  Christian  Liberty. 


beauty,"  the  "Love-music"  and  the  *'Love-foods"  every- 
where found.  Sacrifice  is  not  death,  but  Hfe.  Its  ab- 
sence is  death.  Science  is  reaffirming  the  Master's  own 
thought  and  principle.  "The  first  chapter  or  two  of  the 
story  of  Evolution  may  be  headed  the  struggle  for  life, 
but  take  the  book  as  a  whole  and  it  is  not  a  tale  of  battle. 
It  is  a  love  story."^  Says  Drummond:  ""The  divinity 
of  Christianity,  it  might  be  added,  is  not  to  be  as  unlike 
Nature  as  possible ;  but  to  be  its  coronation ;  the  fulfillment 
of  its  promise ;  the  rallying  point  of  its  forces ;  the 
beginning  not  of  a  new  end,  but  of  an  infinite  accelera- 
tion of  the  processes  by  which  the  end,  eternal  from  the 
beginning,  was  henceforth  to  be  realized.  A  religion 
which  is  Love  and  a  Nature  which  is  Love  can  never  be 
but  one." 

So  Dr.  Campbell  can  say:  '"The  sacrifice  of  Christ 
is  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  strange  incident  in  the  life 
of  humanity,  but  as  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  vicarious 
principle  which  is  everywhere  in  operation.  *  *  in 
all  true  love,  whatever  be  its  stage  of  development,  there 
is  a  vicarious  element."  So  does  Robertson  recognize 
"the  eternal  fact  that  sacrifice  is  the  law  of  life ;"  and 
Drummond  shows  the  altruistic  principle  running 
through  nature  like  a  scarlet  thread. 

And  John  Fisk:  *"I  think  it  can  be  shown  that  the 
principles  of  morality  have  their  roots  in  the  deepest 
foundations  of  the  universe,  that  the  cosmic  process  is 


1  Ascent  of  Man  (Drummond),  p.  218.      2  ibid.      3  The  Heart  of  the 
Gospel,  p.  127.      4  Through  Nature  of  God,  p.  79. 
(18)  —273— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


ethical  in  the  profoundest  sense,  that  in  that  far-off  morn- 
ing of  the  world  when  the  stars  sang  together  and  the 
sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy,  the  beauty  of  self-sacrifice 
and  disinterested  love  formed  the  chief  burden  of  the 
mighty  theme." 

Again,  as  Fisk  contrasts  a  narrow  or  partial  time  sur- 
vey of  the  world-order  where  Nature  may  appear  to  be 
divine  irony  with  the  eternal  view,  he  finds  the  problem 
disentangled  in  ''the  omnipresent  ethical  trend" :  ^"Below 
the  surface  din  and  clashing  of  the  struggle  for  life  we 
hear  the  undertone  of  the  deep  ethical  purpose,  as  it 
rolls  in  solemn  music  through  the  ages,  its  volume 
swelled  by  every  victory,  great  or  small,  of  right  over 
wrong,  till,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  in  God's  own  time,  it 
shall  burst  forth  in  the  triumphant  chorus  of  Humanity, 
purified  and  redeemed." 

This  is  the  reason  ^Ir.  Campbell  turned  to  the  ethical 
for  exhibitions  of  the  Divine  loze.  He  tells  us  that  the 
atonement  is  the  central  idea  of  Christianity,  and  that 
''the  idea  of  a  living  sacrifice  giving  itself  for  others  is 
the  grandest  idea  in  the  universe."^  This  is  why  Mr. 
Campbell  turns  to  the  personal  realm  to  know  the  cer- 
tainty of  the  Divine  voice.  Says  Dr.  Schultz :  '"The 
fact  that  in  a  world  of  causal  law  personal  beings  sub- 
ject their  lives  to  the  good,  and  sacrifice  themselves  to  it, 
is  the  best  proof  for  the  existence  of  God.  *  ^ 
God  is  not  more  certain  to  us  than  is  the  unique  nature 

1  Through  Nature  of  God,  p.  130.  2  i^ect.  on  Pent.,  pp.  233,  238.  3  Out- 
lines  of  Christian  Apologetics,  p,  116f . 

—274— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


of  our  own  thought,  feeling  and  wilHng,  that  is.  than  our 
personal  self-consciousness  ;  but  he  is  just  as  certain.  He 
who  denies  him  must  also  renounce  true  rationality,  hap- 
piness and  morality.  Hence  at  bottom  God  himself  bears 
witness  to  his  existence  in  the  spiritual  life  of  m.an  {Testi- 
monium  Spiritiis  Sancti  internum).  The  devout  man, 
the  sage  and  the  moral  man  are  the  living  proofs  of  the 
existence  of  God." 

Differing  minds  vary  in  their  susceptibility  to  various 
kinds  of  evidence.  To  some,  physical  or  material  power 
bulk  large  in  evidential  value.  To  others,  more  cultured 
and  refined,  things  of  character  and  spiritual  values  have 
the  greater  weight.  That  evidence  seems  most  powerful 
to  arrest  the  attention  of  men  to-day  which  has  the  ethical 
appeal.  [Mr.  Campbell  in  speaking  of  what  he  desig- 
nates the  "moral  internal"'  evidence  of  the  Bible,  says : 

'This  is  the  evidence  which  ever  has  made  the  deepest  im- 
pression upon  the  mind  of  the  honest  inquirer;  and  affords  a 
much  greater  assurance  to  the  believer  of  the  certaint}-  of  the 
foundation  of  his  faith  than  all  the  external  proofs  which  have 
ever  been  adduced.  The  moral  internal  evidence  of  Chris- 
tianity- is  that  which  takes  hold  of  the  great  mass  of  mankind, 
because  it  seizes  the  soul  of  man;  it  adapts  itself  to  the  whole 
man.  It  speaks  to  the  understanding,  to  the  conscience,  to  the 
affections,  to  the  passions,  to  the  circumstances,  of  man,  in  a 
way  which  needs  no  translation,  no  comment.  It  pierces  the 
soul  of  man,  dividing  even  the  animal  life  from  our  intel- 
lectual nature  and  developing  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the 
heart.    There  is  an  internal  sense  to  which  it  addresses  itself, 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


which  can  feel,  examine,  weigh  and  decide  upon  its  pretensions 
without  pronouncing  a  word."^ 

Mr.  Campbell  proceeds  to  illuminate  this  fact  from  the 
words  of  Soame  Jenyns,  of  whom  he  says : 

"This  erudite  and  acute  statesman  triumphantly  proves  the 
Divine  authority  of  this  religion,  from  the  religion  itself,  or 
what  is  not  unfrequently  termed  the  internal  evidence.  *  *  * 
When  speaking  of  the  personal  character  of  this  religion,  Mr. 
Jenyns  very  forcibly  remarks :  'And  here  I  cannot  omit  ob- 
serving that  the  personal  character  of  the  author  of  this  re- 
ligion is  no  less  new,  and  extraordinary,  than  the  religion  itself, 
who  "spoke  as  never  man  spoke,"  and  lived  as  man  never 
lived.  In  proof  of  this  I  do  not  mean  to  allege  that  he  fasted 
forty  days,  that  he  performed  a  variety  of  miracles,  and,  after 
being  buried  three  days,  that  he  arose  from  the  dead;  because 
these  accounts  will  have  but  little  effect  on  the  minds  of  unbe- 
lievers, who,  if  they  believe  not  the  religion,  will  give  no  credit 
to  the  relation  of  these  facts;  but  I  will  prove  it  from  facts 
which  can  not  be  disputed.  For  instance,  he  is  the  only 
founder  of  a  religion  in  the  history  of  mankind  which  is  totally 
unconnected  with  all  human  policy  and  government,  and  there- 
fore totally  unconducive  to  any  worldly  purpose  whatever.  All 
others,  Mahomet,  Numa,  and  even  Moses  himself,  blended  their 
religious  institutions  with  their  civil,  and  by  them  obtained 
dominion  over  their  respective  people;  but  Christ  neither 
aimed  at  nor  would  accept  of  any  such  power;  he  rejected 
every  object  which  all  other  men  pursue,  and  made  choice  of 
all  those  which  others  fly  from,  and  are  afraid  of.  He  re- 
fused power,  riches,  honors  and  pleasure;  and  courted  pov- 
erty, ignominy,  tortures  and  death.  Many  have  been  the  en- 
thusiasts, and  imposters,  who  have  endeavored  to  impose  on 
the  world  pretended  revelations,  and  some  of  them,  from  pride, 

1  Eri.,  p.  283. 

—276— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


obstinacy  or  principle,  have  gone  so  far  as  to  lay  down  their 
lives,  rather  than  retract.  But  I  defy  history  to  show  one  zvho 
ever  made  his  own  suiferings  and  death  a  necessary  part  of 
his  original  plan,  and  essential  to  his  mission;  this  Christ 
actually  did;  he  foresaw,  foretold,  declared  their  necessity, 
and  voluntarily  endured  them.  If  we  seriously  contemplate 
the  divine  lessons,  the  perfect  precepts,  the  beautiful  discourses, 
and  the  consistent  conduct  of  this  wonderful  person,  we  can- 
not possibly  imagine  that  he  could  have  been  either  an  idiot 
or  a  mad  man;  and  3'et,  if  he  was  not  what  he  pretended  to  be. 
he  can  be  considered  in  no  other  light.  And  even  under  this 
character  he  would  deserve  some  attention,  because  of  so 
sublime  and  rational  an  insanity  there  is  no  other  instance  in 
the  history  of  mankind.' 

After  a  long  quotation  of  the  above  nature,  Mr.  Camp- 
bell turns  to  his  opponent  in  debate,  Robert  Owen,  say- 
ing: 

"One  miracle  there  is,  which  Mr.  Owen  must  believe  at  all 
events,  on  the  whole  premises  before  us.  He  must  believe  that 
a  set  of  vile  impostors,  deceivers  of  the  basest  stamp,  the 
greatest  cheats  and  liars  that  ever  lived,  did  give  birth  to  the 
purest  system  of  morality  the  world  ever  saw — did  recommend 
the  practice  of  every  virtue  which  human  reason  in  the  most 
cultivated  state  of  society  can  admire  and  approve.  *  *  * 
This  miracle  Mr.  Owen  must  believe,  which  is  a  miracle  of  a 
more  incredible  character  than  any  one  in  the  volume,  espe- 
cially when  we  take  into  view  the  circumstances  attendant  on 
the  progress  and  sufferings  of  these  wicked  impostors."- 

"Never  was  there  such  a  moral  phenomenon  exhibited  upon 
this  earth  as  the  first  establishment  and  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  instruments  by  which  it  was  established,  the  op- 
position with  which  it  was  met,  and  the  success  which  at- 

1  Evi.,  p.  374f  (Italics  Author's) .      2  Ibid.,  p.  383. 

—277— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 

tended  its  career,  were  all  of  the  most  extraordinary  character. 
The  era  of  Christianity  itself  presents  a  very  sublime  spec- 
tacle :  the  whole  world  reposing  in  security  under  the  pro- 
tecting wings  of  the  most  august  of  all  the  Caesars;  peace,  uni- 
versal peace,  with  her  healthful  arms  encircling  all  the  na- 
tions composing  the  great  empire  which  was  itself  the  com- 
summation  of  all  the  empires  of  the  ancient  world.  Polythe- 
ism, with  her  myriads  of  temples  and  her  myriads  of  priests, 
triumphantly  seated  in  the  affections  of  a  superstitious  people, 
and  swaying  a  magic  scepter  from  the  Tiber  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth.  Legislators,  magistrates,  philosophers,  orators  and 
poets,  all  combined  to  plead  her  cause,  and  to  protect  her  from 
insult  and  injun,'.  Rivers  of  sacrificial  blood  crimsoned  all  the 
rites  of  pagan  worship;  and  clouds  of  incense  arose  from  every 
city,  town  and  hamlet  in  honor  of  the  gods  of  Roman  super- 
stition. Just  in  this  singular  and  unrivaled  crisis,  when  the 
Jew's  religion,  though  corrupted  by  tradition  and  distracted  by 
faction,  was  venerated  for  its  antiquity  and  admired  for  its 
divinity;  when  idolatry  was  at  its  zenith  in  the  pagan  world, 
the  Star  of  Bethlehem  appears.  The  marvelous  scene  opens 
in  a  stable.  What  a  fearful  odds!  What  a  strange  contrast! 
Idolatry  on  the  throne,  and  the  founder  of  a  new  religion  and  a 
new  empire  lying  in  a  manger! 

"Unattended  in  his  birth,  and  unseconded  in  his  outset,  he 
begins  his  career.  Prodigies  of  extraordinary^  sublimity  an- 
nounce that  the  desire  of  all  nations  is  born.  But  the  love  of 
empire  and  the  jealousy  of  a  rival  stimulate  the  bloody  Herod 
to  unsheath  his  sword.  Many  innocents  were  slaughtered,  but 
heaven  shielded  the  new-born  King  of  the  world.  For  the 
present  we  pass  over  this  wonderful  history.  After  thirty  years 
of  obscurity  we  find  him  surrounded  with  what  the  wise,  the 
wealthy  and  the  proud  would  call  a  contemptible  group;  tell- 
ing them  that  one  of  them,  an  uncouth  and  untutored  fisher- 
man, too,  had  discovered  a  truth  which  would  new-modify 
the  whole  world.    In  the  midst  of  them  he  uttered  the  most 

—278— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


incredible  oracle  ever  heard.  I  am  about,  says  he,  to  found  a 
new  empire  on  the  acknowledgment  of  a  smgle  truth,  a  truth, 
too,  which  one  of  you  has  discovered,  and  all  the  powers  and 
malice  of  worlds  seen  and  unseen  shall  never  prevail  against 
it.  What  a  scene  presents  itself  here!  A  pusillanimous,  wav- 
ering, ignorant  and  timid  dozen  of  individuals,  without  a  penny 
apiece,  assured  that  to  them  it  pleased  the  Ruler  of  the  Uni- 
verse to  give  the  empire  of  the  world;  that  to  each  of  them 
would  be  given  a  throne  from  which  would  be  promulgated 
laws  never  to  be  repealed  while  the  sun  and  moon  endure. 

"Such  were  the  army  of  the  faith.  They  begin  their  career. 
Under  the  jealous  and  invidious  eyes  of  a  haughty  sanhedrim 
at  home,  and  under  the  strict  cognizance  of  a  Roman  emperor 
abroad,  with  a  watchful  procurator  stationed  over  them,  they 
commenced  their  operations.  One  while  charged  with  idolatry; 
another  with  treason.  Reviled  and  persecuted  until  their  chief 
is  rewarded  with  a  cross,  and  themselves  with  threats  and  im- 
prisonment. A  throne  in  a  future  world  animated  him,  and  a 
crown  of  glory  after  martyrdom  stimulated  them.  On  they 
march  from  conquest  to  conquest,  till  not  only  a  multitude  of  the 
Jewish  priests  and  people,  but  Caesar's  household  in  imperial 
Rome  became  obedient  to  the  faith.  Such  was  the  commence- 
ment. 

"The  land  of  Judea  is  smitten  with  the  sword  of  the  Spirit. 
Jerusalem  falls,  and  Samaria  is  taken.  The  coasts  of  Asia, 
maritime  cities,  islands  and  provinces  vow  allegiance  to  a 
crucified  King.  Mighty  Rome  is  roused,  and  shaken,  and  af- 
frighted. Sacrifices  are  unbought,  altars  moulder  and  temples 
decay.  Her  pontiffs,  her  Senate  and  her  emperor  stand 
aghast.  Persecution,  the  adjunct  of  a  weak  and  wicked  cause, 
unsheathes  her  sword  and  kindles  her  fires.  A  Nero  and  a 
Caligula  prepare  the  fagots  and  illuminate  Rome  with  burn- 
ing Christians.  But  the  scheme  soon  defeats  itself ;  for  anon 
'tis  found  that  the  blood  and  ashes  of  martyrs  are  the  seed  of 
the  church.    So  the  battle  is  fought  till  every  town  of  note, 

—279— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


from  the  Tiber  to  the  Thames,  from  the  Euphrates  to  the 
Ganges,  bows  to  the  cross.  On  the  one  side  superstition  and 
the  sword,  the  mitred  head  and  the  sceptered  arm  combine;  on 
the  other,  almighty  truth  alone  pushes  on  the  combat.  Under 
these  fearful  odds  the  truth  triumphs,  and  shall  the  advocates 
of  such  a  cause  fear  the  contest  now? 

"Yes,  my  fellow  citizens,  not  a  king  nor  a  priest  smiled 
upon  our  faith  until  it  won  the  day.  It  offered  no  lure  to  the 
ambitious;  no  reward  to  the  avaricious.  It  offered  no  alliance 
with  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  the  lusts  of  the  eye,  nor  the  pride  of 
life.  It  disdained  such  auxiliaries.  It  aimed  not  so  low.  It 
called  for  self-denial,  humility,  patience  and  courage  on  the 
part  of  all  its  advocates;  and  promised  spiritual  joys  as  an 
earnest  of  eternal  bliss.  By  the  excellency  of  its  doctrine,  the 
purity  of  its  morals,  the  rationality  of  its  arguments,  the 
demonstration  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  good  example  of  its 
subjects,  it  triumphed  on  the  ruins  of  Judaism  and  Idolatry. 
The  Christian  volunteers  found  the  yoke  of  Christ  was  easy 
and  his  burden  light.  Peace  of  mind,  a  heaven-born  equanim- 
ity, a  good  conscience,  a  pure  heart,  universal  love,  a  tri- 
umphant jo}',  and  a  glorious  hope  of  immortal  bliss,  were  its 
reward  in  hand."^ 

"No  philosopher  or  poet,  known  to  the  living  world,  ever 
drew  a  perfect  character.  *  *  *  But  the  miracle  of 
miracles  is,  that  plain  unlettered  fishermen  drew  the  only  per- 
fect character  inscribed  in  the  memoirs  of  humanity.  *  *  * 
None  of  the  rabbis  of  Israel,  not  one  of  the  philosophers  of  the 
Greeks  or  Romans,  of  the  Medes,  or  the  Persians,  could 
imagine  a  perfect  man.  But  in  the  four  gospels  stands  a 
monument  of  humanity,  in  the  personal  history  of  Jesus  Christ, 
in  which  no  man  living  or  dead  can  find  one  shadow  of  im- 
perfection in  word  or  deed.'" 

"The  simple  character  of  Jesus  weighs  more  in  the  eye  of 
cultivated  reason  than  all  the  miracles  he  ever  wrought.  No 

1  Evi.,  p.  15f.      2  Mil.  Har.  1858,  p.  243. 

—280— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


greater  truth  was  ever  uttered  than  these  words:  'He  that 
has  seen  me  has  seen  the  Father  also'"^ 

Here  we  come  to  what  Dr.  Dods  calls  the  ''true  touch- 
stone of  Scripture:^  "The  only  possible  ultimate  ground 
for  believing  Scripture  to  be  the  word  of  God  is  that 
there  is  that  in  the  truth  delivered  which  convinces  me 
that  God  is  its  author/^ 

]\Ir.  Campbell  in  allowing  the  inherent  worth  of  the 
several  parts  of  Scripture  to  make  their  own  appeal  to 
his  ever-open  and  responsive  soul  was  able  to  distinguish 
the  true  from  the  false,  and  the  best  from  the  better. 
He  says  : 

"What  is  the  Word  of  God?  'i^  *  *  In  the  Bible,  we 
have  seen,  are  the  revelations  of  God;  but,  beside  these,  much 
of  the  history  of  the  world.  *  *  *  That  which  is  em- 
phatically called  the  Word  of  God,  the  Word  of  the  Lord,  or 
the  Word,  in  the  New  Testament,  is  generally,  if  not  ex- 
clusively, the  Gospel,  or  Good  News,  concerning  Jesus 
Christ.  *  *  *  Peter  *  *  *  defined  the  Word  of  God,  or 
the  Word.  *  *  *  He  defined  the  message,  or  proclamation, 
in  this  way:  'That  word,  or  message,  which  God  sent  by 
Jesus  Christ,  you  have,  no  doubt,  heard  the  report  of ;  how  it 
was  proclaimed  by  John  concerning  the  mission  of  Jesus,  who 
did  so  and  so.  To  him,'  said  he,  'did  all  the  prophets  testify 
that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  might  obtain  remission  of 
sins.'  *  *  *  Thus  Peter  defined  the  Word  of  God.  And 
this  is  and  emphatically  the  Word  of  the  Lord  or  the  Word  of 
God,  to  which,  my  friends,  we  ought,  one  and  all,  to  pay  su- 
preme regard.''^ 

Therefore,  Mr.  Campbell  is  enabled  to  come  to  the 

1  Evi.,  p.  IV  (Italics  Author's).  2  The  Bible:  Its  Origin  and  Nature,  p. 
156.      3  Evi.,  p.  402f. 

—281— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


subjective  certainty  of  the  objective  fact  of  Christ,  and  in- 
form us  how  we  may  be  certain  that  the  voice  n'hich  we 
hear  is  the  Diz  ine  z  oice.    He  says : 

"The  evidence  which  supports  the  claim  of  this  volume  is  not 
confined  to  any  one  species,  but  embraces  the  whole.  Its  truth 
becomes  the  subject  of  experience,  properh'  so  called.  Jesus 
the  Messiah  puts  it  in  the  power  of  every  person  whom  he  ad- 
dresses experimentally  to  prove  the  truth  of  his  pretensions. 
He  says:  'Come  to  me,  all  you  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.  If  any  man  put  himself  under 
my  guidance  he  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make 
him  free.'  Thus  we  have  the  means  of  deciding  experi- 
mentally on  the  reality  of  his  pretensions.  Whether  he  were 
an  impostor  or  the  Messenger  of  the  Great  God  is  submitted 
thus  to  be  tested  by  our  experience.  Where  is  the  man  who 
has  proved  these  promises  false?  Myriads  have  experienced 
their  truth.  Thus  you  see  it  is  doing  injustice  to  the  wisdom 
of  the  author  of  this  volume  to  say  that  he  has  made  it  a 
matter  of  testimony  only,  properly  so  called.  For  its  claims  are 
supported  by  intuitive  evidence,  experience  and  testimony."^ 

Because  this  is  true  the  greatest  infidels  are  not  those 
who  mentally  disbelieve,  but  those  who  by  their  ungodly 
lives  of  infidelity  give  the  lie  to  God's  truth  and  thus 
ever  keep  rolling  back  his  coming  Kingdom  of  Love  and 
his  reign  of  truth  and  righteousness.  This  Mr.  Camp- 
bell most  ungently  feels,  for  he  says: 

"Nothing  has  ever  given  so  much  weight  to  the  Christian 
arguments  as  the  congenial  lives  of  those  who  profess  them. 
On  the  other  hand,  nothing  has  defeated  the  all-subduing  plea 
of  speculative  Christianity  (as  it  may  be  called)  so  much  as  the 


1  c.  B.,  p.  374. 


—282— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


discordant  lives  of  those  who  profess  to  believe  it.  Had  it  not 
been  for  that  one  drawback,  Christianity  tnis  day  had  known 
no  limits  on  this  side  of  the  most  distant  home  of  man."^ 

"Let  industry,  frugality,  temperance,  honesty,  justice,  truth, 
fidelity,  humility,  mercy,  sympathy,  appear  conspicuous  in  the 
lives  of  the  disciples,  and  the  contrast  between  them  and  other 
professors  will  plead  their  cause  more  successfully  than  a  hun- 
dred preachers.  *  *  *  There  is  wanting  a  more  elevated 
piety  to  bring  up  the  Christian  character  to  the  standard  of 
primitive  times.  *  *  *  If  an)^  one  would  enjoy  the  power 
of  godliness  he  must  give  up  his  soul  to  it.  *  *  is  the 
whole  bent  of  the  soul — it  is  the  beginning,  middle  and  end  of 
every  day."^ 

"There  is  a  charm,  there  is  an  indescribable  influence  in  the 
genuine  fruits  of  Christianity,  which,  when  exhibited  in  liv- 
ing Christians,  the  most  abandoned  are  constrained  to  respect."^ 

Speaking  about  the  necessity  of  a  personal  reformation, 
he  says : 

"The  form  of  godliness  in  individuals  and  in  societies  may 
exist  without  the  power;  and  a  congregation  may,  like  a  well- 
disciplined  army,  be  clothed  with  all  the  regimentals  and  per- 
form all  the  involutions  to  an  iota,  and  yet  not  a  soldier 
among  them — not  a  Christian  in  spirit  and  temper — in  life  and 
deportment."* 

Dr.  Brown,  in  the  summary  of  grounds  for  believing 
in  the  Christian  God,  concludes  v^ith  this  same  thought, 
which  brings  criticism  into  the  sphere  of  the  personal: 
^"But  there  is  a  better  apologetic  than  that  of  the  schools, 
and  that  is  to  live  before  men  a  life  so  Christ-like  that 
those  who  see  it  shall  be  moved  to  desire  a  like  life  for 

IC.B.,  p.  509.  2  ch.  Sys.,  p.  297.  3  d,  on  R.  C.  R.,  p.  439.  4  G.  B.,p.  185. 
5  Christian  Theology  in  Outline,  p.  138. 

—283'— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


themselves,  and  so  be  introduced  into  that  experience 
out  of  which  alone  a  sincere  faith  in  the  Christian  God 
can  grow." 

This  is  Tennyson's  thought : 

"And  so  the  Word  had  breath,  and  wrought 
With  human  hands  the  creed  of  creeds 
In  loveliness  of  perfect  deeds, 

^lore  strong  than  all  the  poetic  thought; 
Which  he  may  read  that  binds  the  sheaf, 
Or  builds  the  house,  or  digs  the  grave." 

And  Whittier  joins  him : 

"The  dear  Lord's  best  interpreters 
Are  humble  human  souls; 
The  gospel  of  a  life  like  theirs 
Is  more  than  books  or  scrolls. 
From  scheme  and  creed  the  light  goes  out, 

The  saintly  fact  survives ; 
The  blessed  Master  none  can  doubt, 
Revealed  in  holy  lives." 

Hen:e  Dr.  Whewell  asks  the  momentous  question: 

"Ought  we  not  to  act  with  the  large  views,  the  lofty  pur- 
poses, the  deep  self-consciousness  of  immortal  beings,  if  we 
are  immortal  beings?"^ 

Herein  Mr.  Campbell  is  able  to  transcend  even  criti- 
cism  itself.  When  Bishop  Purcell  asks  him  in  debate,  h^ 
replies : 

"But  the  gentlemen  asked  a  question  which  has  puzzled 
wise  men  to  answer.  A  child,  however,  of  four  years  old  could 
have  asked  Newton  a  question  that  he  could  not  have  an- 
swered in  a  thousand  years.    'How  can  you  prove  the  Bible?' 

I  Cambridge  Theol.  Assays,  p.  5%. 

—284— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


says  the  Bishop.  Does  it  prove  itself?  I  will  imitate  him 
this  once,  and  ask:  Does  nature  prove  itself?  Does  God 
prove  his  own  existence  without  his  works  or  by  his  works? 
Must  there  be  another  universe  created  to  prove  this?  *  *  * 
So  the  Bible  proves  itself  to  be  the  word  of  God,  as  nature 
proves  itself  to  be  the  work  of  God.  Thus  has  the  supreme 
intelligence  stamped  the  impress  of  himself  both  on  nature  and 
revelation.  David  says :  'Lord,  thou  hast  magnified  thy  word 
above  all  thy  name.'  *  *  *  p^ul  and  Peter  wrote,  and 
said  much  more  by  divine  inspiration  than  is  preserved  or 
recorded.  So  did  the  ancient  prophets.  We  need  not  to  prove, 
in  order  to  our  faith,  who  collected  the  writings  into  one 
volume,  any  more  than  who  collected  the  words  of  Christ 
that  are  reported.  *  *  *  L^et  a  man  sit  down  as  Mary  sat, 
at  the  feet  of  Christ,  and  humble  himself  as  a  pupil  ought;  he 
will  then  hear  the  voice  of  God,  and  understand  it,  too.  He 
will  then  discern  how  it  is  that  all  God's  children  are  taught 
by  God,  and  that  there  is  none  that  teacheth  like  him."^ 

This  intrinsic  character  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  and 
not  external  proofs  is  what  led  Coleridge  to  such  a 
sublime  faith  in  Gk)d.  Coleridge  cries  out ^'Evidences 
of  Christianity !  I  am  weary  of  the  word.  Make  a 
man  feel  the  want  of  it;  rouse  him,  if  3^ou  can,  to  the 
self-knowledge  of  his  need  of  it;  and  you  may  safely 
trust  it  to  its  own  evidence.  *  *  *  From  the  very 
nature  of  those  principles,  as  taught  in  the  Bible,  they 
are  understood  in  exact  proportion  as  they  are  believed 
and  felt.  The  regulator  is  never  separated  from  the 
mainspring." 

So  Mr.  Campbell,  in  his  quest  for  something  authorita- 

1  D.  ou  R.  C,  p.  266  (Italics  Author's).  2  Faith  and  Rationalism  (Fisher), 
p.  96. 

—285— 


Alexander  CainpbcU  and  Christian  Liberty. 


tive,  goes  back  beyond  the  church  and  the  fathers  to  the 
Bible.  But  even  here  we  found  him  making  a  distinc- 
tion between  what  is  narrative  and  what  is  word  of  God ; 
what  is  record  and  what  is  revelation ;  what  is  letter  and 
what  is  spirit;  what  is  human  and  what  is  divine;  what 
is  prose  and  what  is  poetry;  what  is  the  occasional  lan- 
guage conveyance  and  what  is  the  essential  divine  truth 
conveyed.  His  "Sermon  on  the  Law"  is  a  single  ex- 
ample of  how  he  in  the  Bible  chose  between  the  letter 
and  the  spirit,  law  and  grace,  ]\Ioses  and  Christ.  His 
critical  result  was  that,  though  God  had  in  the  past 
spoken  in  the  prophets  partially,  he  now  had  completely 
revealed  himself  in  Christ — whom  we  should  hear. 
Hence  he  not  only  finds  in  the  Bible  the  authoritative 
voice,  but  he  finds  that  voice  to  be  the  voice  of  the  Father 
speaking  in  his  Son.  Therefore,  the  Bible  is  the  au- 
thoritative book,  not  because  it  is  an  infallible  rule,  but 
it  contains  an  infallible  person.  \Mth  Dr.  King  in  quot- 
ing Principal  Fairbairn:  ^"We  come  back,  then,  to  the 
position  that  authority  belongs  to  the  Bible,  not  as  a  book, 
but  as  a  revelation :  and  it  is  a  revelation,  not  because  it 
has  been  canonized,  but  because  it  contains  the  history 
of  the  Redeemer  and  our  redemption."  Says  Mr.  Camp- 
bell : 

"Jesus  Christ  is  the  center  of  the  whole  evangelical  system. 
He  is  'the  root  and  the  offspring  of  David,'  'the  Sun  of 
Righteousness,'  'the  bright  and  the  Morning  Star,'  'the  Alpha 
and  the  Omega'  of  the  volume.    'The  testimony  of  Jesus  is  the 

^  Reconstructions  m  Theologj-,  p.  161. 

—286— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


spirit'  of  all  sacred  histor>^  and  of  all  divine  prophecy.  Now 
the  history-  of  the  Bible  is  very  rationally  or  philosophically 
arranged,  both  in  its  prospective  and  retrospective  character, 
with  a  single  and  sublime  reference  to  Jesus  Christ"^ 

Again  he  shows  how  fitting  this  is  in  view  of  the  cry- 
ing needs  of  men.   He  says : 

"He  has  been  made  Lord  for  us.  *  *  *  To  make  him 
Lord  for  us  was  to  invest  him  with  universal  authority. 
*  *  *  That  he  might  be  able  to  do  all  for  us  that  our  con- 
dition needs.  *  *  *  He  is  Lord  of  life,  Lord  of  the  Spirit, 
Lord  of  all.  *  *  *  We  need  a  Leader,  a  Luminan.^  a  Sun 
of  Righteousness ;  and  we  want  one  who  can  always  help  us 
in  the  time  of  need,  when  we  wrestle  not  with  flesh  and  blood, 
but  with  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world ;  with  wicked 
spirits  living  in  the  air."^ 

And  most  optimistic  is  he  of  future  Christian  progress 
as  he  says : 

"Jesus  will  be  universally  acknowledged  by  all  the  race  of 
living  men,  and  all  nations  shall  do  him  homage.  This  state  of 
society  will  be  the  consummation  of  the  Christian  religion,  in 
all  its  moral  influences  and  tendencies  upon  mankind."' 

This  idea  of  the  authority  of  Jesus  was  the  keynote  of 
the  Declaration  and  x\ddress : 

"Resume  that  precious,  that  dear-bought  liberty,  wherewith 
Christ  has  made  his  people  free;  a  liberty-  from  subjection  to 
any  authority  but  his  own  in  matters  of  religion."* 

These  contentions  of  Mr.  Campbell  are  in  harmony 
with  those  expressed  by  Dr.  Dods :    "''The  value  of  the 

1  Bapt.,  p.  26.  2  Ch.  Sys.,  p.  54.  3  Hjid.,  p.  311.  ■*  Historical  Docu- 
ments, p.  104.      5  The  Bible:  Its  Nature  and  Origin,  p.  25f. 

—287— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Bible  results  from  its  connection  with  Christ.  He  is  the 
supreme,  ultimate  revelation  of  God,  and  the  Bible,  being 
the  amber  in  which  He  is  preserved  for  man,  is  as  in- 
violable and  unique  as  He.  *  *  Its  unity  is  to  be 
found  in  the  unity  of  God's  purpose.  Or  it  may  be  said 
that  its  unity  is  to  be  found  in  its  center,  Jesus  Christ." 

Dr.  Wendt  says:  ^"I  am  firmly  persuaded  that  a  reso- 
lute return  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus  himself  will  be  the 
most  powerful  and  efficient  means  of  promoting  and 
strengthening  the  Christian  religion  in  our  time,  and  mak- 
ing it  clear  and  intelligible." 

This  return  to  the  Christ  as  authority  explains  the 
fact  of  Mr.  Campbell's  greater  emphasis  upon  the  New 
Testament  over  the  old.  Dr.  Van  Kirk,  speaking  of  the 
constant  appeal  to  the  New  Testament  which  our  fathers 
made,  says :  "To  appeal  to  the  New  Testament  is  to 
appeal  to  Christ.  Jesus  is  the  alpha  and  omega,  the  center 
and  circumference,  the  spring  and  the  stay  of  the  whole 
volume.  I  am  suspicious  of  any  cry  'Back  to  Christ,' 
which  is  not  a  cry  'back  to  the  literature  which  God  in 
His  providence  has  given  us  about  Christ.'  As  I  would 
not  take  the  long  journey  of  the  traditions  of  the  church, 
I  would  not  take  the  short  cut  of  rationalistic  criticism. 
The  Christ  outside  of  or  apart  from  the  Book,  if  such 
were  possible,  is  not  the  Christ  for  me."^ 

This  is  the  merit  of  Ritschl's  view  of  the  Bible.  Says 
Dr.  Swing:    ^"We  shall  find  that  for  him  the  source- 

1  The  Teaching:  of  Jesus,  Vol.  I,  p.  2.  2  The  Rise  of  the  Current  Reforma- 
tion, p.  123.      3  The  Theology  of  Albrecht  Ritschl,  p.  86, 

—288— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 

point  in  history  from  which  the  study  of  Christianity 
must  be  directed  is  the  New  Testament.  He  says  quite 
conclusively  here  that  'the  theology  which  is  to  set  forth 
the  authentic  content  of  the  Christian  religion  in  a  posi- 
tive form  has  to  be  obtained  from  the  books  of  the  New 
Testament  and  from  no  other  source.'  " 

J.  J.  Haley  says :  ^*'The  most  characteristic  and  funda- 
mental feature  in  the  movement  with  which  Mr.  Camp- 
bell was  identified  was  insistence  on  the  restoration  of 
Apostolic  emphasis  on  the  Lordship  of  Jesus  the  Savior. 
His  absolute  sovereignty  of  religious  and  moral  au- 
thority. Absolute  surrender  to  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord  of 
all  is  Christianity  was  the  trumpet  call  that  sounded  in 
every  sermon."  This  Mr.  Campbell  confirms,  as  we  have 
seen  from  his  own  words.  The  personal  Jesus  was  the 
controlling  idea  in  his  religion.    As  he  says : 

"Jesus  Christ  was,  and  is,  a  person;  not  a  thing,  not  a  doc- 
trine, not  a  theor}^  *  *  *  Jesus  Christ  was  a  real  person, 
and  had  personal,  positive  attributes.  He  had  a  real  and  posi- 
tive character,  unique,  original,  transcendent.  It  was  as  fixed, 
as  positive  and  as  radiating  as  the  sun  in  heaven.  The  origi- 
nality and  unity  of  his  character  is  all-sufficient,  in  the  eye  of 
cultivated  reason,  to  claim  for  him  a  cordial  welcome  into  our 
world,  and  to  hail  him  as  the  supreme  benefactor  of  our  race. "2 

"Our  little  systems  have  their  day, 
They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be; 
But  they  are  broken  lights  of  thee. 
And  thou,  O  Lord,  art  more  than  they." 


1  The  Christian  Century,  Feb.  8,  '06.      i  Evi.,  p.  IV. 
(19)  —289— 


CHAPTER  VII, 
The  Heretic. 


upon  a  day  in  the  sixteenth  century,  at  Rome,  some  men, 
bearing  the  title  of  Inquisitors,  who  assumed  to  derive  wisdom 
and  authority  from  God  himself,  were  assembled  to  decree 
the  immobility  of  the  earth.  A  prisoner  stood  before  them. 
His  brow  was  illumined  by  genius.  He  had  outstripped  time 
and  mankind,  and  revealed  the  secret  of  a  world.  It  was 
Galileo. 

The  old  man  shook  his  bold  and  venerable  head.  His  soul 
revolted  against  the  absurd  violence  of  those  who  sought  to 
force  him  to  deny  the  truths  revealed  to  him  by  God.  But 
his  pristine  energy  was  worn  down  by  long  suffering  sorrow; 
the  monkish  menace  crushed  him.  He  strove  to  submit.  He 
raised  his  hand,  he,  too,  to  declare  the  immobility  of  the  earth. 
But  as  he  raised  his  hand  he  raised  his  weary  eyes  to  that 
heaven  they  had  searched  throughout  long  nights  to  read  there- 
on one  line  of  the  universal  law;  they  encountered  a  ray  of  that 
sun  which  he  so  well  knew  motionless  amid  the  moving 
spheres.  Remorse  entered  his  heart ;  an  involuntary  cry  burst 
from  the  believer's  soul:    Eppur  si  muove! — and  yet  it  moves. 

Three  centuries  have  passed  away.  Inquisitors,  inquisition, 
absurd  theses  imposed  by  force — all  these  have  disappeared. 
Naught  remains  but  the  well-established  movement  of  the 
earth,  and  the  sublime  cry  of  Galileo  floating  above  the  ages. 

Child  of  Humanity,  raise  thy  brow  to  the  Sun  of  God,  and 
read  upon  the  heavens:  If  moves!  Faith  and  action!  The 
future  is  ours. — Mazzini. 


—292— 


CHIAPTER  VII. 


THE  HERETIC. 

Alexander  Campbell  was  not  only  a  critic,  ''a  higher 
critic,"  so  called.  This  is  putting  it  altogether  too  mildly. 
From  the  witness  of  both  his  work  and  times  it  might 
not  be  speaking  against  fact  to  say  that  he  was  pre- 
eminently the  American  critic  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
This  would  be,  however,  a  matter  of  opinion.  But  vvC 
may  say  with  the  utmost  propriety  and  candor,  that  he 
was  a  bold  and  fearless  Biblical  critic,  who  was  fearfully 
hated  and  whose  critical  results  called  forth  the  com- 
bined antagonism  of  priest  and  people. 

One  who  would  know  the  genius  of  that  thought- 
movement,  which  broke  loose  in  the  Renaissance,  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  filtered  down  through  the  religious 
consciousness  of  the  Reformation,  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, and  which  force  still  unspent  is  working  in  every 
department  of  thought  and  life,  must,  first  of  all,  think 
of  it  as  a  critical  movement.  The  movement  of  which 
Biblical  criticism  is  only  one  of  the  mighty  and  significant 
tendencies. 

Says  Draper:  ^"The  Reformation  had  been,  to  no 
small  extent,  due  to  the  rise  of  criticism,  which  still  con- 
tinued its  development,  and  was  still  fruitful  of  results. 

1  The  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe,  Vol.  II,  p.  224. 

—293— 


Alexander  Campbell  a;:d  Christian  Liberty. 


*  *  *  The  doctrine  successfully  established  by  Luther 
and  his  colleagues — the  right  of  private  interpretation  and 
judgment — was  the  practical  carrying  out  of  the  organic 
law  of  criticism  to  the  highest  affairs  with  which  man 
can  be  concerned — affairs  of  religion.  The  Reformation 
itself,  philosophically  considered,  really  meant  the  cast- 
ing off  of  authority,  the  installation  of  individual  inquiry 
and  personal  opinion."^ 

He  who  would  understand  Alexander  Campbell,  the 
man  himself,  his  work  and  his  writings,  must  come  to 
him  in  this  setting  which  gave  him  birth,  fired  his  being 
and  received  his  life-long  endeavors.  It  is  in  the  sphere 
of  criticism  that  we  see  him  doing  work  in  his  life's  task ; 
both  destructive  and  constructive,  but  destroying  only 
that  he  may  construct.  Both  by  nature  and  by  choice 
he  belonged  to  this  great  modern  movement  which  has 
so  upset  the  world  in  its  thought-realm.  But  it  upsets 
only  the  false  that  it  may  set  up  the  true. 

First  of  all,  he  distinguished  himself  as  a  true  Protest- 
ant. He  was  part  and  parcel  of  this  unique  tendency. 
And  what  fundamentally  do  we  find  this  to  be  ?  Simply 
a  protest  against  a  united  church.  As  a  Protestant, 
therefore,  he  would  tear  the  united  church  to  shreds. 
He  would  strip  apart  every  fiber  of  its  fellowship.  It 
was  a  protest  destructive  of  church  unity.  In  brief,  it 
was  a  revolt  against  the  Roman  idea  of  church  union. 

1  Note— Dr.  A.  T.  Swing  suggests  here,  "The  reformation  by  Luther  was 
not  quite  that  of  'liberty'  of  conscience,  as  is  sometimes  falsely  said,  but 
'conscience  bound  ihe  IVord  of  God'  which  is  a  very  different  world!" 

294— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


It  was  a  reaction  against  the  long-honored  united  institu- 
tion which  crushed  out  individual  freedom ;  in  favor 
of  the  individual,  that  he  might,  turning  from  the  united 
mass,  think,  speak  and  act  for  himself.  Herein  is  unity 
sacrificed  to  liberty.  It  is  the  same  warfare  being  fought 
out  in  the  ecclesiastical  world  that  was  fought  in  the 
civil  world  when  the  Roman  idea  of  government  gave 
way  to  the  Teutonic  idea. 

The  fundamental  consideration  with  Mr.  Campbell 
was  not  the  institution,  but  the  individual ;  not  the  union 
of  the  whole,  but  the  liberty  of  the  many.  He  was  not, 
as  has  formally  been  maintained,  first  of  all  a  pleader 
for  union.  But,  first  of  all,  he  was  a  pleader  for  Hberty^ 
as  already  has  been  seen.  How  in  the  true  American 
spirit  he  joined  these  two  ideas  of  union  and  liberty  is 
foreign  to  our  present  discussion.^  First  of  all  in  his 
thought  was  the  liberty  of  the  individual.  Thus  he 
identified  himself  with  the  Protestant  tendency  which 
gave  the  blow  to  the  Roman  hierarchy,  the  united  Catho- 
lic Church.  In  this  mighty  effort  union  was  offered  upon 
the  altar  of  individual  liberty.  Fellowship  was  claven. 
Though  the  individual  gained  his  liberty,  he  lost  his  fel- 
lowship. The  desire  for  fellowship  is  as  strong,  in  the 
breasts  of  men,  as  the  longing  to  be  free.  Hence  the 
rise  of  sectarianism  after  the  blow  to  Papal  Rome. 

Upon  this  circumstance  Draper  makes  a  significant  re- 
mark:  ^"Yet  what  do  we,  who  are  living  nearly  a  cen- 

1  For  a  full  discussion  of  this  subject,  c.  f .  Christian  Union,  by  J.  H.  Garrison. 

2  The  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe,  Vol.  II,  p.  227. 

—295— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


tury  after  that  time,  find  the  event  to  be  ?  Sectarian  de- 
composition, passing  forward  to  its  last  extreme,  is  the 
process  by  which  individual  mental  liberty  is  engendered 
and  maintained.  A  grand  and  imposing  religious  unity 
implies  tyranny  to  the  individual :  the  increasing  emer- 
gence of  sects  gives  him  increasing  latitude  of  thought — 
with  their  utmost  multiplication  he  gains  his  utmost  lib- 
erty. In  this  respect,  unity  and  liberty  are  in  opposi- 
tion ;  as  the  one  diminishes,  the  other  increases.  The 
Reformation  broke  down  the  unity;  it  gave  liberty  to 
masses  of  men  grouped  together  in  sufficient  numbers  to 
insure  their  position  ;  it  is  now  invisibly,  but  irresistibly 
making  steps,  never  to  be  stayed  until  there  is  an  abso- 
lute mental  emancipation  for  men." 

In  such  an  attitude  pleading  for  peace,  harmony  and 
fellowship,  and  }et  trying  to  overthrow  the  already  es- 
tablished institution  which  granted  this,  Air.  Campbell 
presented  a  strange  anomaly.  His  attack  was  not  only 
directed  against  the  one  hierarchal  institution,  which 
failed  in  granting  liberty  to  man  to  think,  but  against 
every  such  institution.  To  him  the  evils  of  sectarianism 
lay  in  that  same  conservative  tendency,  forbidding  man 
to  think  beyond  the  creeds.  His  battle  was  for  a  protest- 
antism of  personal  liberty  whose  limits  were  bounded 
only  by  the  mind  of  the  blaster  of  freedom.  No  union, 
therefore,  was  able  to  stand  under  his  critical  inspection 
that  did  not  grant  this  freedom  to  the  individual. 

This  is  one  reason  zi'hy  many  thought  him  a  destruc- 
tionist.    "He  was  assailed  as  a  disorganizer,  but  it  was 

—296— 


Alexander-  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


not  his  aim  merely  to  overthrow  the  existing  order  of  re- 
ligious society.  *  *  *  desired  simply  to  dethrone 
the  false  that  he  might  re-establish  the  true,  to  replace 
the  traditions  of  men  by  the  teachings  of  Christ  and  the 
Apostles ;  to  substitute  the  New  Testament  for  creeds  and 
human  formularies.  His  work  was  positive,  not  nega- 
tive."^ 

Nevertheless,  the  heresy-hunters  were  out  looking  for 
the  susceptible,  and  he  was  soon,  after  a  short  candi- 
dacy, initiated  into  the  order,  and  branded  as  The  Heretic. 
For  here  was  a  man  overthrowing  the  time-honored  in- 
stitutions which  held  the  mind  and  the  soul  of  man  as  in 
an  iron  vise.  Here  was  one  protesting  in  the  interests 
of  the  individual,  that  he  might  have  liberty  to  think  and 
act.  Here  was  another  appearing  in  the  line  of  those 
truth-finders  who  dared  to  bare  his  own  soul  and  think; 
and  then  lift  to  the  world  the  song  of  truth. 

History  is  always  repeating  itself.  Not  once  did  a 
Luther  arise  within  the  Catholic  church  to  destroy  its 
false  unity,  and  to  gain  liberty.  The  most  significant  sign 
in  the  ecclesiastical  world  to-day  is  Father  Tyrrell,  Don 
Romolo  Murri,  Abbe  Loisy,  and  others  arising  within  the 
Holy  Church  to  measure  its  authority  with  the  rules  of 
Modern  Criticism.  ''A  bald  contention,"  says  Father 
Tyrrell,  in  his  reply  to  the  Pope's  Encyclical,  "that  all 
ecclesiastical  development  is  a  mechanical  unpacking  of 
what  was  given  in  a  tight  parcel  2,000  years  ago.'"^  And 

1  The  New  Schaff-HerzogEuc3'clopedia  of  Religious  Knowledge  (Funk  and 
Wagnalls  Co.,  Dec.  1908),  Vol.  II,  p.  371.  2  Passing  protestantism  and  Coming 
Catholicism  (Newman  Smyth),  p.  75. 

—297— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Murri  declares:  "We  desire  a  Christianity  more  pure, 
more  intense,  more  practical,  more  Christian,  more  con- 
formed to  its  original,  more  conformed  to  the  Gospel."i 

Not  only  is  modern  learning  and  criticism  doing  its 
noble  work  on  the  dark  mission  fields  in  dethroning  the 
false  and  preparing  for  the  event  of  the  crowning  of  the 
Christ,  but  in  the  lands  of  light  and  liberty  the  dark 
places  are  being  searched  out  and  put  under  its  wonder- 
fully revealing  power. 

These  men  are  scholarly  Catholics.  Newman  Smyth 
designates  this  New  Movement  as  Madernism.  Yet  it  is 
but  the  old  tendency  of  revolt  come  to  life  in  a  new  and 
unlooked-for  quarter.  He  defines  the  movement  thus: 
^"Modernism  is  a  certain  attitude  of  mind  corresponding 
to  our  times ;  it  is  a  tendency  of  thought  rather  than  a 
body  of  doctrine ;  it  is  an  intellectual  method  rather  than 
a  creed ;  it  is  a  vitalizing  spirit,  making  all  things  new, 
rather  than  a  full-grown  and  complete  theology."  In 
fact,  it  is  but  the  old  spirit  of  freedom  which  we  have 
been  considering  in  connection  with  Mr.  Campbell  rising 
up  within  the  holy  church.  Although  she  has  existed 
in  the  midst  of  our  modern  institutions  of  learning,  she 
has  had  her  eyes  closed  to  their  facts.  She  has  existed, 
but  not  lived  among  them. 

She  has  struggled  hard  to  keep  back  the  entrance  of 
fight,  knowing  that  the  institution  could  not  longer  stand 
upon  the  application  of  modern  learning  and  criticism. 

1  Passing  Protestantism  and  Coming  Catholicism  (Newman  Smyth),  p.  64. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  68. 

—298— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 

She  has  been,  therefore,  the  foe  to  progress,  modern 
learning  and  BibHcal  criticism. 

Of  course,  these  critics  are  doing  a  heap  of  upsetting 
and  consequently  receiving  in  exchange  the  old-honored 
brand  of  ''heretic."  Mr.  Smyth,  as  truly  as  prophetic, 
says :  ^''Those  who  realize  the  tremendous  power  of 
Rome  will  say  modernism  will  be  crushed,  as  Jansenism 
in  France  has  been;  as  history  shows  that  the  Romair 
Inquisition  has  put  out,  time  and  again,  individual  con- 
sciences. To  such  persons  the  powers  of  darkness  seem 
to  be  greater  than  the  all-surrounding  light.  It  does  not 
seem  so  to  the  modernists  who  have  caught  its  beams 
upon  their  thoughts.  They  believe  in  the  penetrating 
and  pervasive  energy  of  the  light  of  the  history,  science 
and  personal  faith,  which  has  already  shone  fully  upon 
themselves.  They  may  be  cast  down,  but  not  destroyed. 
Loisy  relinquishes  his  professorship  and  continues  think- 
ing and  writing.  Fogazzaro  consents  to  have  his  Saint 
put  under  the  ban,  and  he  lectures  upon  the  views  of 
Giovanni  Selva.  //  Rinnozainento  changes  an  editor, 
bows  to  the  authority,  and  announces  that  it  will  con- 
tinue to  be  published.  The  priests  who  told  the  Pope 
'what  we  want' — the  same  or  another  similar  group  of 
them — receive  his  condemnation,  and  immediately  review 
it  in  another  book.  That  is  put  upon  the  Index,  but  not 
until  after  its  translation  into  French  and  English.  Thus 
the  mirrors  which  reflect  the  light  may  be  shifted,  but  the 
light  of  modern  learning  is  ceaselessly  reflected  within 

1  Passing  Protestantism  and  Comiug  Catholicism  (Newman  Smyth),  p,  99f. 
—299— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


the  Roman  church.  ^Moreover,  the  repressive  policy  of 
the  Holy  Father  opens  more  windows  than  it  closes." 

The  Outlook,  commenting  upon  Paul  Sabatier's  recent 
book  on  "^lodernism,"  says  •} 

"His  definition  of  modernism  is  admirable :  'Modern- 
ism is  a  spiritual  spring  which  penetrates,  vivifies  and 
rejuvenates  all  things.    *  The  movement  in  the 

Roman  Catholic  Church  is  toward  individual  liberty  of 
conscience  and  thought,  and  is  in  so  far  Protestant.  The 
movement  in  the  Protestant  churches  is  toward  the 
demolition  of  the  sectarian  fences  and  the  unity  of  the 
faith,  and  is  in  so  far  a  movement  toward  Catholicity. 
It  is  this  which  makes  it  a  world  movement  and  equally 
regenerating  in  both  communions." 

We  have  in  these  men  but  a  fresh  illustration  of  Mr. 
Campbell  flashing  the  light  upon  the  conservatism  of 
his  day.  It  is  peculiarly  noticeable  with  what  zeal  many 
joined  him.  They  were  willing,  even  eager,  to  hear  his 
invectives  against  the  sects,  especially  if  not  their  own, 
and  would  even  join  in  the  fray.  It  was  all  right  for  him 
to  assail  the  authority  of  the  church.  But  when  he  came 
to  apply  these  same  principles  of  criticism  to  the  Bible, 
"the  dear  family  Bible,  that  lay  on  the  stand" — why,  then 
it  was  a  different  thing.  This  Bible  they  felt  must  be 
taken  upon  the  authority  of  the  past.  It  must  be  just 
what  the  fathers  had  said  it  to  be,  without  question. 
What  consistency ! — the  good  old  orthodox  'Protestants 
refusing  to  grant  the  Catholics  recognition  because  they 

1  Outlook,  Jan.  30, 1909. 

— 30Q— 


'Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


were  conserving  the  tradition  of  the  fathers  in  church 
authority  yet  cherishing  that  same  traditional  authority 
in  their  understanding  of  the  Bible  It  seems  in  view  of 
this  that  .t  is  only  a  step  from  the  Protestant  to  the 
Cathouc. 

Regardless  of  the  traditions,  in  face  of  bitter  opposition, 
Mr.  Campbell  labored  for  a  Bible,  newly  clothed  and  in- 
dividually interpreted.  He  seems  in  his  tremendous  ef- 
forts like  a  man  trying  to  tear  the  Holy  Bible  to  pieces. 
To  many  he  was  only  a  destructio^ist.  Reports  spread. 
Suspicion  filled  the  air.  Alarm  sounded  far  and  near. 
He  was  assailed.  He  was  accuised  of  being  a  "Uni- 
tarian," of  ''making  a  New  Testament,"  and  what  not. 
Every  bold  epithet  was  applied  to  him.  The  term, 
''Higher  Critic,"  was  not  then  at  hand.  Those  were 
days  of  contentment  with  small  things,  so  they  thrived 
richly  on  just  "Celtic."  The  word  "Infidel"  was  ex- 
clusively and  rigidly  set  apart  for  those  outside  the  fold. 
So  they  gathered  up  all  their  hate,  spite,  scorn  and  venom, 
and,  bundling  all  together,  wrapped  it  neatly  up  in  the 
small  parcel — "The  Heretic."  That  was  a  bad  name  in 
those  days.  And  woe  be  unto  the  one  who  might  re- 
ceive its  application.  Now,  this  is  just  what  these  good 
old  narrow  orthodox  brethren  did  to  their  brother,  Alex- 
ander Campbell,  who  had  the  misfortune  to  possess  a 
brain  that  would  really  think  and  often  think  out  loud; 
who  believed  in  the  progress  of  things,  that  they  were 
going  upward  to  God  and  not  downward  to  destruction ; 
who  sought  to  know  the  truth  of  things  for  himself,  in- 

—301— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


stead  of  taking  it  over  from  the  past,  all  wrapped  up  and 
labeled.  This  they  were  doing  because  of  such  devotion 
to  the  Master!  Because  their  lives  were  so  filled  with 
his  Spirit!  Hence  the  cry  that  rang  down  through  the 
nineteenth  century  following  him  everywhere  he  went, 
''He  is  not  orthodox,"  "Unsound,"  "Beware,"  "The 
Heretic." 

But  Mr.  Campbell  was  only  passing  through  an  ex- 
perience which  has  been  the  rich  or  unrich  (according  as 
one  looks  at  it)  heritage  of  many  of  the  true  and  loyal 
sons  of  God.  Yet  an  experience  which,  above  all  the 
pain  of  it,  granted  a  large  return  in  character.  What  is 
life  for,  anyhow? 

"Life  is  not  an  idle  ore, 
But  iron  dug  from  central  gloom, 
And  heated  hot  with  burning  fears, 

And  dipt  in  baths  of  hissing  tears, 
And  batter'd  with  the  shocks  of  doom 
To  shape  and  use." 

^Moreover,  an  experience,  radiant  in  the  light  cast 
about  him.  He  grants  us  a  peep  into  this  revealing  at- 
mosphere as  he  says : 

"Who  that  has  his  eyes  open  has  not  seen  that  men  of  the 
lowest  moral  endowments  are  the  most  zealous  in  the  cause  of 
orthodoxy?  and  that  the  reason  is  they  are  conscious  that  un- 
less they  can  raise  a  clamor  about  orthodoxy  they  are  likely 
to  pass  off  the  stage  as  they  ought?  I  have  always  found 
those  of  the  most  orthodox  scent  the  slowest  in  the  race,  and 
the  loudest  in  the  sound."^ 

1  c.  B.,  p.  275. 

—302— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


In  the  presence  of  such  inspiration  he  becomes  a  true 
prophet.    He  says: 

"My  own  individual  orthodoxy  is  too  orthodox  for  the 
orthodox  prelates  of  a  sectarian  world.  I  thank  God,  as  Paul 
once  said  of  himself,  in  his  own  way  of  boasting,  I  am  more 
orthodox  than  any  of  them.  I  have  all  their  orthodoxy,  and  a 
little  more  besides.  And  I  know  the  next  generation — or,  at 
farthest,  the  one  after  that — will  acknowledge  it."^ 

The  light  about  him  grows  so  bright  that  he  is  able  to 
distinguish  between  a  true  and  a  false  orthodoxy.  He 
says : 

"I  opine  there  is  as  much  orthodoxy  in  hell  as  there  is  in 
heaven,  man  for  man,  angel  for  angel.  Satan  himself  is,  in 
the  proper  significance  of  the  term  orthodoxy,  quite  as  ortho- 
dox as  the  angel  Gabriel. 

"Does  not  Satan  believe,  or  assent  to,  the  whole  Bible  doc- 
trine— facts  and  documents — not  merely  the  theory,  but  the 
facts  therein  written?  Does  he  not  show  a  more  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  contents  of  the  Bible,  in  his  tempta- 
tions addressed  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  than  do  half  the  ancient 
or  modern  rabbis  of  the  tribes  of  Israel?  In  a  debate  with 
nine-tenths  of  the  patented  orthodoxies  of  these  United  States 
would  he  not  most  probably  bear  away  the  palm  of  victory? 
The  only  true  orthodoxy  in  any  community  is  *  *  *  ^ 
cordial  reception  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth."^  *   *  * 

He  finds  among  those  praying  for  light  an  example  of 
history  repeating  itself.   He  says : 

"We  are  very  certain  that  to  such  as  are  praying  for  il- 
lumination and  instruction  in  righteousness,  and  not  availing 
themselves  of  the  means  afforded  in  the  Divine  Word  to  ob- 
tain an  answer  to  their  prayers,  our  remarks  on  many  topics 

1  Add,,  p.  287.      2  Mill.  Har.,  1858,  p.  492,  (Italics  Author's;. 

—303— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


will  appear  unjust,  illiberal,  and  even  heretical;  and,  as  there 
are  so  many  praying  for  light,  and  inattentive  to  what  God 
has  manifested  in  his  word,  there  must  be  a  multitude  to  op- 
pose the  way  of  truth  and  righteousness.  This  was  the  case 
when  God's  Messiah,  the  mighty  Redeemer  of  Israel,  ap- 
peared. Ten  thousand  prayers  were  daily  offered  for  his  ap- 
pearance, ten  thousand  orations  pronounced  respecting  the 
glory  of  his  character  and  reign ;  and,  strange  to  tell !  when  he 
appeared  the  same  ten  thousand  tongues  were  employed  in  his 
defamation!  Yea,  they  were  praying  for  his  coming  when  he 
stood  in  the  midst  of  them,  as  many  now  are  praying  for 
light  when  it  is  in  their  hands,  and  yet  they  will  not  look 
at  it."^ 

This  parallel  becomes  more  striking  as  he  gets  him- 
self adjusted  more  fully  to  the  surroundings.    He  says: 

"The  Pharisees,  contemporary  with  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
Apostles,  were  a  sort  of  ultra  religionists.  Their  leaven  was 
hypocrisy.  It  wrought  in  them  a  sort  of  supercilious  disdain 
and  contempt  for  all  other  professions  or  sectarisms  outside 
their  own  denomination.  They  thanked  God  for  their  own 
assumptions  and  presumptions! 

"Their  characteristics  were  hypocrisy,  cupidity  and  proselyt- 
ism,  with  a  very  fair  and  plausible  appearance  of  exterior 
sanctity.  These  were  their  four  cardinal  points.  False  pre- 
tences in  the  form  of  exuberant  zeal    for    hoary  tradition. 

*  *  *  'They  builded  the  tombs  of  the  prophets;  they 
adorned  the  sepulchres  of  the  righteous,  'while  in  character 
the  sons  of  those  who  killed  the  prophets,'  and  did  themselves, 
when  opportunity  served,  persecute  Apostles  from  city  to  city. 

*  *  *  Such  were  the  assumed  orthodox  scribes;  and  such 
were  their  orthodox  converts,  characterized  by  the  Lord  him- 


1  C.B..P.  2. 


—304— 


Ale.vandcr  Campbell  am!  Christian  Liberty. 


self  iiypocrites,'  'compassing  sea  and  land  to  make  proselj'tes* 
to  their  peculiar  orthodoxies. 

Orthodoxy,  too,  chameleon  like,-  of  one  color  at  Rome,  an- 
other at  Constantinople,  of  one  color  at  Dort,  another  in  Nor- 
mandy, was  a  passport  to  the  conscience  of  uneducated  and  un- 
sanctified  myriads.  Orthodoxy,  at  best,  was  never  more  nor 
less  than  right  thinking  in  all  its  latitudes  and  longitudes.  It 
was  neither  right  believing  nor  right  feeling,  neither  adoring 
God  nor  beautifying  man."^ 

As  ^Ir.  Campbell  makes  a  tour  he  sees  strange  and  re- 
pelling sights.    Of  certain  of  his  observations  he  says: 

''There  is  a  great  difference  between  reading  geography  and 
traveling  over  the  surface  of  a  country;  between  hearing  of 
and  seeing  the  religious  world ;  between  viewing  men  and 
things  with  our  own  eyes,  and  looking  at  them  through  the 
media  of  books  and  newspapers;  between  contemplating  so- 
ciety in  the  closet,  and  mingling  with  it  in  actual  operation. 
We  have  been  long  convinced  that  to  live  to  purpose  in  any 
society,  it  is  necessary  to  be  well  acquainted  with  the  state  of 
that  society ;  it  is  necessary,  in  a  certain  sense,  'to  catch  the 
living  manners  as  they  rise.'  Man  is  a  creature  incessantly 
developing  himself — perpetually  exhibiting  new  and  strange 
appearances.  And,  while  it  is  true  that  'as  in  water,  face  an- 
swers to  face,  so  does  the  heart  of  man  to  man,'  it  is  equally 
certain  that  the  varied  year  and  every-shifting  scener\'  of  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  are  but  emblems  of  the  changes  con- 
tinually  exhibiting   in  human    society.    *    *  * 

"Regardless  of  the  spirit  and  character  of  this  age  and  of 
this  great  community,  many  are  for  holding  the  people  down 
to  the  standards  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 
Hence  we  find  the  creeds  and  forms  that  suited  the  age  and 
circumstances  of  our  ancestors,  contemporary  with  Charles  I., 


1  Mill.  Har.  1858.  p.  333. 

(20) 


—305- 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


bound  with  new  rivets  on  the  necks  of  our  countrj-men.  This 
is  not  more  absurd  than  to  oblige  men  to  wear  the  apparel 
which  suited  them  when  boys,  and  to  compel  men  when  they 
have  no  taste  for  the  pranks  and  amusements  of  children  to 
go  through  all  the  forms. 

**'We  are  happy  to  find  that,  in  spite  of  the  reigning  doctors 
of  traditions,  the  people  are  gradually  awaking  to  a  sense  of 
their  religious  rights  and  privileges.  *  *  *  Many  who 
thought  their  church  almost  infallible  now  readily  admit  that 
she  not  only  may,  but  that  she  actually  does,  frequently  err. 
And  there  is  a  spirit  of  inquiry  marching  forth,  before  which, 
most  assuredh-,  the  rotten  systems  of  tradition  and  error  must 
and  will  fall.    *    *  * 

"When  a  tyrant  is  dethroned,  and  his  vassals  liberated,  he 
finds  his  quietus  in  a  guillotine,  and  they  convert  his  palaces 
into  towers  and  strongholds  for  each  other  in  rotation.  So 
in  the  church.  They  who  call  the  Pope  antichrist,  and  renounce 
any  successor  of  St.  Peter,  set  themselves  up  as  Popes,  and 
thus  a  whole  congregation  of  protesters  become  a  college  of  car- 
dinals, and  they  will  have  no  Pope  because  each  one  wishes  to 
be  Pope  himself. 

"The  people  ever3'where  have  an  insatiable  appetite  for 
sound  doctrine,  and  eat  whole  sermons  after  sermons,  and  run 
after  this  and  that  preacher  for  sound  doctrine,  and  are  as 
hungry  as  before.  Is  he  sound — is  he  sound  in  faith?  This  is 
the  all-important  question,  on  the  solution  of  which  depends  the 
character  of  the  preacher  for  orthodoxy  or  heterodoxy — and 
his  reputation  is  all  in  all  to  him.  The  preachers,  too,  generally 
labor  all  their  lives  to  die  with  the  reputation  of  having  been 
great  and  orthodox  preachers;  and  the  people  follow  them  up 
to  hear  sound  doctrine,  to  sit  as  jurors  upon  their  views  and 
abilities,  and  to  bring  in  a  verdict,  which,  if  true,  makes  them 
good  Christians,  and  the  preacher,  either  great  or  little,  sound 
or  unsound  in  the  faith.    Errors  of  opinion  become,  in  many 

—306— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


places,  the  cause  of  ecclesiastical  degradation  and  of  exclusion 
from  the  church,  while  immoralities  are  overlooked  and 
ascribed  to  the  'remaining  corruptions'  of  human  nature.  Er- 
rors in  opinion  are  treated  as  felons,  while  immoralities  are 
indulged  as  a  wayward  child,  the  darling  of  his  mother.  This 
is  not  so  much  a  sectarian  peculiarity  as  it  is  the  characteristic 
of  the  times.  It  would  be  of  infinite  importance  to  the  re- 
ligious community  and  to  the  rising  generation,  if,  from  the 
teacher's  chair,  in  the  church,  and  in  every  Christian  family, 
less  was  said  about  this  sound  doctrine,  and  the  time  occupied 
therein  devoted  to  recommending,  enforcing  and  practicing 
that  'holiness  without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord.' 

But  he  -finds  consolation  in  the  two  never-failing  facts, 
the  reversed  judgment  of  the  centuries  over  the  hours 
and  the  Divine  approval.   He  says: 

"One  age  burns  heretics;  the  next  makes  them  saints  and 
martyrs,  and  erects  monuments  to  their  memory.  No  wise 
man,  well  read  in  civil  or  ecclesiastical  history,  can  expect  a 
different  state  of  things.  The  censure  of  one  age  is  all  praise 
in  the  judgment  of  the  next;  as  the  praise  of  one  generation  is 
often  the  shame  and  the  reproach  of  the  following.  Christians 
live  for  immortality,  for  eternity,  and,  therefore,  to  them  it  is 
a  matter  of  little  or  no  account  how  their  contemporaries  may 
think  or  speak  of  them.  The  only  happy  man  is  he  whom 
the  Lord  approveth."^ 

Mr,  Campbell  became,  on  account  of  his  new,  strange 
and  disturbing  ideas,  the  Arch-Heretic  of  his  time. 
Many  were  the  fine  spreads  that  the  "weak-minded"  en- 
joyed at  his  expense  at  church,  in  the  parlors,  and  even 
in  the  press.    Henry  Van  Dyke  gives  us  a  suggestion 

1  C  B..  p.  198f.      2  Add..  588. 

—307— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


here :  '"Cannibalism  is  dying  out  among  the  barbarous 
tribes:  the  Fiji  islanders  have  given  it  up;  but  it  still 
survives  among  the  most  highly  civilized  peoples.  You 
might  find  yourself  in  some  difficulty  if  you  invited  a 
company  of  friends  to  a  feast  in  which  the  principal  dish 
was  to  be  a  well-roasted  neighbor.  Everybody  would 
refuse  with  horror,  and  you  would  probably  be  es- 
corted to  the  nearest  lunatic  asylum.  But  if  you  wish  to 
serve  up  somebody's  character  at  a  social  entertainment, 
or  pick  the  bones  of  somebody's  reputation  in  a  quiet  little 
corner,  you  will  find  ready  guests  and  almost  incredible 
appetites.  How  cruel  are  the  tender  mercies  of  the 
wicked !  How  eager  and  indiscriminate  is  the  hunger  of 
gossip !  How  quick  some  men  are  to  take  up  an  evil  re- 
port, and  roll  it  as  a  sweet  morsel  under  their  tongues, 
and  devour  their  neighbors,  yes,  even  their  friends !" 

Such  conceit  and  bigotry,  which  is  refined  selfishness, 
yea,  more,  which  is  no  less  than  murder  under  the  guise 
of  loyalty,  is  depicted  by  ]\Ir.  Campbell  in  the  word  of  a 
friend,  as  follows : 

"By  bigotry,  is  meant  a  man's  obstinate  attachment  to  an 
opmion,  or  set  of  opinions,  which  indisposes  him  to  give  a  candid 
hearing  to  anything  else,  and  makes  him  unwilling  that  his 
brother  should  have  the  same  liberty  of  judgment  which  he 
claims  for  himself.  =^  *  *  it  not  only  makes  null  and  void 
the  arguments  of  an  opponent,  but,  alas!  it  boldly  impeaches 
his  motives,  and  assails  his  moral  character.  Not  only  are  his 
talents  to  go  for  nothing,  not  only  are  his  labors  to  be  despised; 
but  his  virtue  and  piety,   his  zeal   and  heavenly-mindedness, 

1  The  story  of  the  Psalms,  p.  48. 

—308— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


though  supported  by  an  unblamable  life — all,  all  must  be  dis- 
posed of  with  indifference  or  contempt,  by  the  high,  and  bit- 
ter, and  sovereign  dictates  of  bigotry!  And  yet  this  dark  and 
dreadful  evil  is  not  only  winked  at,  but  nourished  in  the  hearts 
of  all  the  churches  in  Christendom!    *    *  * 

"They  say  to  the  soul  of  every  member,  so  far  shall  you  go 
in  your  meditations,  and  no  farther;  your  business  is  not  to  in- 
quire what  is  true,  but  merely  to  inquire  what  are  the  senti- 
ments of  our  church,  that  you  may  defend  them  to  the  end  of 
the  world.  You  are  not  only  to  avoid  contradicting  them, 
but  you  are  to  make  no  addition  to  them;  because  our  lovely 
plan  is  not  only  free  from  errors,  but  also  contains  the  whole 
body  of  truth  completely.  You  must  silence  every  heretical 
thought  of  improvement,  and  merely  walk  in  the  good  old 
way,  as  we  have  pointed  it  out  to  you.  Thus,  whatever  error 
may  be  in  the  church,  it  seems  it  must  be  held  fast  to  eternity. 
The  intellectual  faculties  of  the  members  must  be  hampered, 
and  their  hearts  corrupted  by  doing  violence  to  honest  con- 
viction, and  by  warping  both  reason  and  revelation  into  the 
pale  of  their  sectarian  boundaries.  And  even  the  truth  itself 
is  hindered  by  these  evils  from  producing  its  native  and  salu- 
tary effects;  for  truth,  when  believed  merely  with  the  faith  of 
bigotry,  is  little  better  than  error.  Its  evidence  is  not  ex- 
amined, and  its  value,  as  truth,  is  not  apprehended;  but  merely 
its  subserviency  to  the  support  of  our  beloved  cause.  For  if 
we  made  our  cause  subservient  to  the  truth,  instead  of  making 
the  truth  subservient  to  it,  we  should-  be  willing  for  our 
churches  to  follow  the  truth  wheresoever  it  might  lead  the 
way.  *  *  *  Thus  the  inquiry,  What  is  truth?  is  neglected 
and  laid  aside."^ 

7' his  was  the  peculiar  merit  of  Mr,  Campbell,  and  it 
was  this  attitude  which  brought  out  such  opposition ; 
making  truth  the  ideal  aim  and  seeking  to  bring  the 

1  C.  B.,  p.  2l3f. 

—309— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


cause  up  to  the  measurement  of  the  standard  of  truth, 
instead  of  making  truth  conform  to  the  holdings  of  the 
cause.  This  position  was  destructive  to  the  narrowness 
of  the  cause,  but  constructive  to  the  broadness  of  truth. 
What  was  lost  in  the  merely  churchly  was  gained  in 
truth.  What  was  overthrown  in  churchanity  was  gained 
in  Christianity,  the  pure  religion  of  Jesus.  This,  too, 
was  his  stand  upon  the  Bible.  He  said  let  us  look  at  the 
Bible  through  the  eye  of  truth.  Let  the  Bible  as  it  really 
is  speak  to  us.  Let  us  not,  through  our  distorted  vision 
of  what  we  would  like  to  have  it  be,  try  to  make  it  appear 
something  it  is  not.  Even  though  we  feel  that  our  vision 
of  what  it  ought  to  be  is  the  ideal,  still,  in  the  interests 
of  truth,  let  us  cast  aside  our  ideal  vision  and  penetrate 
the  Bible  with  unveiled  soul,  allowing  it  to  stand  out 
in  its  true  colors. 

In  the  year  1859  the  London  Dispatch  characterized 
Mr.  Campbell  as :  ''One  who  resolved  to  discard  all 
human  creeds  and  confessions,  >f=  h=  contended  that 
the  impartial  and  enlightened  interpretation  of  the  Bible 
would  infallibly  lead  mankind  to  a  knowledge  of  its 
truth,  proceeded  in  a  free  examination  of  tlie 

Bible.  ''^  *  Even  among  these  people,  however, 
^Ir.  Campbell's  views  were  singular  and  extreme  in  con- 
sequence of  their  liberality ;  his  talents  were  so  com- 
manding, and  his  influence  soon  became  so  great  that 
the  utmost  jealousy  was  excited."^ 

Mr.  Campbell  himself  gives  us  touches  of  his  treatment 

1  Mill.  Har.  18S9,  p.  486f. 

—310— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


as  a  heretic,  how  he  was  misrepresented,  misinterpreted 
and  defamed.    Of  this  he  says : 

"Good  has  been  often  called  evil,  and  evil  good.  Truth  has 
been  piously  called  error,  and  error  truth.  Pure  religion  has 
been  frequently  called  heres3%  and  heresy  pure  religion.  Paul 
had  to  confess  that  he  worshipped  God  in  the  way  which  the 
populace  called  heretical  and  blasphemous.  Because  we  have 
said  that  we  Christians  are  not  under  Moses,  but  under  Christ; 
not  under  the  law  as  a  rule  of  life,  but  under  the  gospel,  we 
are  said  to  have  spoken  'blasphemous  words  against  ]\Ioses  and 
the  law.'  Because  we  have  said  that  the  Jewish  Sabbath  is  no 
more,  we  are  represented  as  without  religion,  profane  and  im- 
pious; and,  because  we  have  called  much  of  what  is  called 
warm  preaching,  and  warm  feelings,  and  great  revivals,  en- 
thusiasm, we  are  said  to  deny  'experimental  religion'  or  the 
influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  the  word,  upon  the  minds  of 
believers.  'Yes,'  say  our  enemies,  'you  deny  the  moral  law,  the 
Christian  Sabbath  and  experimental  religion.' 

A  friend  writes  to  inform  him  of  a  conspiracy  formed 
"to  put  a  stop  to  the  alarming  spread  of  those  principles" 
of  his.  These  they  have  honored  with  the  title  of 
"damnable  heresies."  Furthermore,  the  body  ''Resolved, 
That  we  will  not  fellowship  the  doctrines  propagated  by 
Alexander  Campbell."    He  responds  as  follows: 

"What  means  this  intolerant  spirit?  I  ask  again,  What  is 
the  meaning  of  it?  Is  every  man  who  acknowledges  in  word 
and  deed  the  supreme  authority  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  Lord 
Messiah;  who  has  vowed  allegiance  to  him.  who  is  of  good 
report  as  respects  good  works,  to  be  sacrificed  upon  the  altar 
of  opinion,  because  his  opinion  upon  some  speculation,  fact  or 
doctrine,  differs  from  mine?    Because,  while  he  admits  that 

1  c.  B.,p.S9, 

—811— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


Jesus  died  for  our  sins,  he  will  not  dogmatize  upon  the  nature, 
extent  and  every  attribute  of  'the  atonement/  is  he  to  be 
deemed  unfit  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven?  Admitting  'an  elec- 
tion of  favor,'  is  he  to  be  given  over  to  Satan  because  of  some 
opinion  about  the  conditionality  or  unconditionality  of  that 
election.  In  one  word,  are  we  to  understand  that  an  exact 
agreement  in  opinion,  a  perfect  uniformity  is  contended  for 
as  a  bond  of  union?  If  so,  let  our  Baptist  brethren  say  so, 
Let  them  declare  to  the  world  that 

"'Tenth,  or  ten  thousandth,  breaks  the  chain  alike.' 

"That  a  disagreement  in  the  tenth  opinion,  or  in  the  ten 
thousandth  opinion,  breaks  the  bond  of  union.  If  this  be  the 
decree,  let  it  be  published  and  translated  into  all  languages — 
let  it  be  known  and  read  by  all  men.  If,  again,  a  perfect  uni- 
formity be  not  decreed,  but  a  partial  uniformity,  let  it  be  pro- 
claimed in  how  many  opinions  an  agreement  must  be  ob- 
tained; then  we  shall  know  who  are,  and  who  are  not,  to  be 
treated  as  heathen  men  and  publicans. 

"What  makes  divisions  now?  The  man  who  sets  up  his 
private  judgments  as  the  standard  of  truth,  and  compels  sub- 
mission to  them,  or  the  man  who  will  bear  with  a  brother  who 
thinks  in  some  things  differently  from  him?  No  man  can,  with 
either  reason  or  fact  on  his  side,  accuse  me  of  making  di- 
visions among  Christians.  I  declare  non-fellowship  with  no 
man  who  owns  the  Lord  in  word  and  deed.  Such  is  a  Chris- 
tian. He  that  denies  the  Lord  in  word  or  deed  is  not  a  Chris- 
tian. A  Jew  or  a  Gentile  he  may  be,  a  Pharisee  or  a  Sad- 
ducee  he  may  be,  but  a  Christian  he  cannot  bel  If  a  man  con- 
fess the  Lord  Jesus,  or  acknowledge  him  as  the  only  Savior 
sent  by  God ;  if  he  vow  allegiance  to  him,  and  submit  to  his 
government,  I  will  recognize  him  as  a  Christian  and  treat 
him  as  such.  If  a  man  cause  divisions  and  offenses  by  setting 
up  his  own  decisions,  his  private  judgment,  we  must  consider 
him  as  a  factionist,  and  as  such  he  must  be  excluded — ^not  for 

—512— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


his  difference  in  opinions,  but  because  he  makes  his  opinion  an 
iciol,  and  demands  homage  to  it. 

"There  are  some  preachers  in  the  East  and  in  the  West — 
some  self-conceited,  opinionated  dogmatizers — who  are  deter- 
mined to  rend  the  Baptist  communities  into  fractions  by  their 
intolerance.  They  wish,  moreover,  to  blame  it  upon  us.  As 
well  might  they  blame  the  sun  for  its  light  and  heat  as  blame 
us  for  creating  divisions.  When  we  shall  have  cut  off  from  the 
church  any  person  or  persons  because  of  a  difference  of  opin- 
ion, then  they  may  say,  with  reason,  we  cause  divisions.  Till 
then  it  is  gratuitous.  They  are  the  heretics,  not  we.  Yes, 
they  are  the  heresiarchs,  and  will  be  so  regarded  by  all  the 
intelligent  on  earth,  and  by  all  in  heaven."^ 

In  his  sermon  on  **The  Law"  he  says: 

"But  as  this  discourse  was,  because  of  its  alleged  heterodoxy 
by  the  regular  Baptist  Association,  made  the  ground  of  my 
impeachment  and  trial  for  heresy  at  its  next  annual  meeting,  it 
is  as  an  item  of  ecclesiastic  history  interesting.  It  was  by  a 
great  effort  on  my  part  that  this  self-same  Sermon  on  the  Law 
has  not  proved  my  public  excommunication  from  the  de- 
nomination under  the  foul  brand  of  'damnable  heresy.'  But 
by  a  great  stretch  of  charity  on  the  part  of  two  or  three  old 
men,  I  was  saved  by  a  decided  majority. 

"This  unfortunate  sermon  afterwards  involved  me  in  a 
seven  years'  war  with  some  members  of  said  association,  and 
became  a  matter  of  much  debate.  I  found  at  last,  however, 
that  there  was  a  principle  at  work  in  the  plotters  of  said 
crusade,  which  Stephen  assigns  as  the  cause  of  the  misfortunes 
of  Joseph. 

"It  is,  therefore,  highly  probable  to  my  mind  that  but  for 
the  persecution  begun  on  the  alleged  heresy  of  this  sermon, 
whether  the  present  reformation  had  ever  been  advocated  by 


1  c.  B.,p  651. 


—313— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


me.  I  have  a  curious  history  of  many  links  in  this  chain  of 
providential  events,  yet  unwritten  and  unknown  to  almost  any 
one  living — certainly  but  to  a  very  few  persons — which,  as  the 
waves  of  time  roll  on  may  yet  be  interesting  to  many.  It  may 
be  gratifying  to  some,  however,  at  present  to  be  informed  that 
but  one  of  the  prime  movers  of  this  presumptive  movement  yet 
lives;  and,  alas!  he  has  long  since  survived  his  usefulness.  I 
may  farther  say  at  present  that  I  do  not  think  there  is  a 
Baptist  association  on  the  continent  that  would  now  treat  me 
as  did  the  Redstone  Association  of  that  daj-,  which  is  some 
evidence,  to  my  mind,  that  the  Baptists  are  not  so  stationary 
as  a  few  of  them  would  have  the  world  to  believe."^ 

]\Ir.  Campbell  was  experiencing  in  his  heresy  trial  what 
J.  J.  Haley  was  feeling  when  he  said:  **Are  not  some 
of  us  trying  to  circumscribe  the  boundaries  of  hberty 
with  as  much  zeal  and  persistence  as  our  fathers  did  to 
enlarge  them  ?  Are  we  really  afraid  for  educated  men  to 
utter  themselves  honestly  and  freely?  Is  the  truth  en- 
dangered by  such  freedom  ?  Am  I  bound  to  agree  with  a 
leading  preacher,  or  a  theological  professor,  or  editor  of 
a  prominent  paper  on  pain  of  being  hounded  as  a  heretic 
and  put  out  of  the  synagogue  as  a  dangerous  man  ?  Does 
not  the  liberty  of  a  free  man  in  Christ  come  a  little  high 
at  this  price?  The  last  conversation  the  writer  had  with 
^Alexander  Procter,  the  great  man  said :  'The  most  pa- 
thetic, the  most  tragic  thing  I  know  is  the  fact  that  the 
moment  a  man  comes  to  a  view  of  God,  and  the  uni- 
verse, Christ  and  the  Bible,  that  he  can  hold  and  respect 
himself,  that  moment  he  becomes  a  marked  man,  to  be 

1  Historical  Doc.,  p.  218f, 

—314— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


branded  by  preachers  and  religious  newspapers  as  a 
heretic  and  an  infidel.'  The  week  before  in  the  city 
where  this  remark  was  made  an  ultra  orthodox  religious 
paper  spoke  of  this  great  and  Christ-like  man  as  'that 
infidel  'Procter.'  Is  this  not  an  instance  of  overcharge 
for  freedom  among  the  free?"^ 
Says  the  Hebrew  poet: 

"O,  sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song; 
Sing  unto  the  Lord,  all  the  earth. 
Let  the  heavens  be  glad  and  let  the  earth  rejoice." 

The  fact  remains,  and  increasingly  brightening  by  the 
passing  years,  that  Alexander  Campbell  zvas  not  counted 
a  heretic  because  he  was  such,  but  because  he  lifted  to 
the  world  a  new  song.  "An  old  song,"  says  Prof.  Mc- 
Fadyen,  "can  always  count  upon  a  welcome,  formal  if 
not  hearty.  But  a  new  song!  Few  have  the  courage 
to  raise  it,  and  many  and  loud  and  discordant  are  the 
voices  that  strive  to  drown  it  out."^ 

A  common  fate  has  hovered  over  not  a  few  of  these 
singers  of  new  songs.  There  came  once  to  earth  the 
sweetest  singer  the  world  ever  heard.  His  song  breathed 
the  melody  of  the  Infinite  Father  in  his  wonderful  love 
and  compassion  for  men.  But  it  was  a  new  song !  And 
men  turned  back  to  their  cold,  heartless,  rigid,  mechanical 
law,  saying,  'Xet  us  have  no  more  of  this  love-song— 
crucify  him !  crucify  him !"  So  they  crucified  the  Son 
of  God !   But  the  song  died  not ! 

Stephen  to  his  age  raised  anew  the  song.    But  the  cry 

1  The  Christian  Century,  Nov.  29,  '06.      2  The  Divine  Pursuit,  p.  99. 
—315— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


rang  high,  "Away  with  him !"  As  they  stoned  away  his 
hfe,  his  face  shone  with  the  radiance  of  an  angel's — ^ 
prophetic  of  the  fact  that  truth  never  dies. 

Paul,  too,  was  torn  from  the  cherished  scenes  of  his 
labors,  by  these  destroyers  of  new  songs,  and  thrust 
within  the  Roman  prison,  dying  a  martyr  to  the  song  of 
truth.  But  the  song  lived  on !  These  are  but  gleams 
from  the  crowded  pages  of  history.  These  are  but  a  few 
of  the  love-chapters  of  sacrifice.  Rivers  of  blood  have 
flowed  from  these  singers  of  new  songs.  History  gives 
us  not  one  Calvary,  but  many  Calvaries.  Look  to  the 
record.  By  the  Inquisition  alone,  from  1481  to  1808, 
340,000  persons  were  punished,  and  out  of  these  32,000 
burnt ! 

Still  such  sacrifice  is  not  without  its  value  to  truth. 
Says  Draper:  ^*'The  death  of  Servetus  was  not  without 
advantage  to  the  world.  *  *  *  Men  asked,  with 
amazement  and  indignation,  if  the  atrocities  of  the  In- 
quisition were  again  to  be  revived.  On  all  sides  they 
began  to  inquire  how  far  it  is  lawful  to  inflict  punish- 
ment of  death  for  difference  of  opinion.  It  opened  their 
eyes  to  the  fact  that,  after  all  they  had  done,  the  state  of 
civilization  in  which  they  were  living  was  still  char- 
acterized by  its  intolerance.  * 

"het  it  also  be  remembered  that,  considering  that 
worthlessness  of  the  body  of  man,  and  that,  at  the  best, 
it  is  at  last  food  for  the  worm,  considering  the  infinite 
value  of  his  immortal  soul,  for  the  redemption  of  which 

1  The  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe,  Vol.  II,  pp.  189,  226. 
—316— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


the  agony  and  death  of  the  Son  of  God  were  not  too 
great  a  price  to  pay — indignities  offered  to  the  body  are 
less  wicked  than  indignities  offered  to  the  soul.  It  would 
be  well  for  him  who  comes  forward  as  an  accuser  of 
Mexico  and  Peru  in  their  sin  to  dispose  of  the  fact  that 
at  that  period  the  entire  authority  of  Europe  was  di- 
rected to  the  perversion,  and  even  total  repression  of 
thought — to  an  enslaving  of  the  mind,  and  making  that 
noblest  creation  of  heaven  a  worthless  machine.  To 
taste  of  human  flesh  is  less  criminal,  in  the  eye  of  God, 
than  to  stifle  human  thought." 

What  a  record !  Who  shall  say  that  the  suffering  God 
is  not  still  upon  the  earth !  Who  shall  declare  that  his 
love  is  not  made  manifest !  What  a  host  of  noble  com- 
rades, fellowshiping  in  the  Divine  agonies,  have  gone  to 
the  Inquisition,  to  the  stake,  or  to  the  loss  of  their  good 
name,  because  they  claimed  the  right  to  think  and  pos- 
sessed that  rare  faculty  of  making  their  ideas  walk  out 
alive  among  the  children  of  men !  Luther,  Cranmer, 
Cromwell,  Galileo,  Bruno,  Darwin,  Spencer,  Campbell, 
and  thousands  of  others,  no  less  earnest  if  not  so  re- 
nowned. These,  the  singers  of  new  songs !  These, 
damned  by  their  own  generation! 

Yet  the  sacrifice  has  its  compensation.  Who,  in  the 
face  of  Truth,  glorious,  blood-bought  Truth,  would 
raise  a  hand  to  stay  the  tide,  would  environ  themselves 
in  error  rather  than  to  see  Truth  come  even  at  such 
precious  cost?  There  is  a  pain  that  is  divine.  There  is 
a  death  that  is  immortal.    These  truth-bringers  have  im- 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


mortalized  themselves.  The}^  have  garnered  truth  divine. 
They  have  incarnated  divine  love.  By  their  cowardice 
the  scarlet-thread  which  runs  through  all  creative-love 
has  not  been  broken.  They  have  been  true  to  the  uni- 
versal law.  They  have  fulfilled  their  task  by  serving  God 
and  truth.  They  can  say,  "It  is  finished,"  though  com- 
pelled to  say  it  from  the  cross.  Their  effort  the  next 
generation  will  acknowledge.  For  it  will,  by  these  light- 
bearers,  have  been  lifted  up  above  the  mists  into  the 
regions  of  clearer  sight.  The  world  grows  on  apace. 
While  the  Kingdom  of  God  rolls  into  it.  The  great  uni- 
versal law  stands  anew  revealed  by  each  life  yielded  in 
the  fight  for  truth.  And  again  the  world  learns  the 
blood-taught  lesson  that  all  of  truth,  and  love,  and  beauty, 
comes  not  by  each  remaining  silent  and  inert  in  the 
mighty  struggle  of  life,  but  by  the  way  of  the  cross,  by 
each  strewing  his  pathway  with  the  sacrifice  of  self. 
Then  let  the  singers  sing  their  songs  till  they  have  sung 
into  this  songless  world  the  harmonies  of  the  skies ! 

"There  came  a  singer  through  the  world, 

The  world  of  grim  to-day, 
The  fire  of  life  was  on  his  lips 
And  in  his  heart  the  May. 

He  sang  a  golden  song  of  love, 

Of  truth  and  truth's  desire, 
And  flung  a  majesty  of  might 

From  his  alluring  lyre. 

He  came  to  where  the  cliques  of  song, 

Life's  grim  Sanhedrim  dwelt ; 
They  hated  him  because  of  all 

The  truth  he  sang  and  felt. 

—318— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


They  hated  him  and  cried  him  down, 

Because  they  saw  in  him 
The  lark  in  heaven,  sweet  and  clear. 

That  made  their  singing  dim. 

They  slew  him  with  their  evil  tongues. 

Their  artful,  false  disdain, 
And  life  lost  all  that  joy  and  hope 

That  should  have  been  its  gain. 

They  drove  him  from  the  doors  of  hope, 

The  gates  of  human  fame. 
Until  in  dusk  of  evil  spite 

He  died  without  a  name. 

His  melody  went  fading  out, 

Till  under  heaven's  bars 
His  mighty  music  sobbed  and  sank, 

And  melted  to  the  stars. 

Then  in  his  place  they  set  them  up 

False  gods  of  tinsel  show, 
Poor  helot,  soulless,  mumming  mock, 

Of  mighty  long  ago. 

And  built  them  temples  born  of  art, 

Upon  an  evil  time. 
When  gold  and  power  and  pelf  were  prized, 
And  rhyme  was  only  rhyme. 

And  starved  the  yearning  sons  of  God 

Of  beauty,  love  and  truth. 
And  gave  them  stones  who  asked  for  bread. 

In  dread  and  shameless  ruth. 

How  long,  O  Life,  this  mighty  ill. 

This  reign  of  hate?    How  long 
Permit  to  dree  their  evil  weird. 

Earth's  murderers  of  song?" 
—  (The  Collected  Poems  of  Wilfred  Campbell.) 


—319— 


CHAPTER  Vm. 
The  Outlook— "What  of  the  Night?" 


There  is  not  one  dark  cloud,  not  one  dark  speck,  in  all  the 
heavens  of  Christian  hope.  Everything  seen  in  its  wide 
dominions,  in  the  unbounded  prospect  yet  before  us,  is  bright, 
cheering,  animating,  transporting. — Alexander  Campbell. 

Not  unto  endless  dark  do  we  go  down. 

Though  all  the  wisdom  of  wide  earth  said,  "Yea," 
Yet  my  fond  heart  would  throb  eternal  "Nay;" 

Night,  prophet  of  morning,  wears  her  starry  crown. 

And  jewels  with  hope  her  murkiest  shades  that  frown. 
Death's  doubt  is  kerneled  in  each  prayer  we  pray; 
Eternity  but  night  in  some  vast  day 

Of  God's  far-off  red  flame  of  love's  renown. 

Not  unto  endless  dark.    We  may  not  know 
The  distant  deeps  to  which  our  hoping  go. 

The  tidal  shores  where  ebbs  our  fleeting  breath; 
But  over  ill  and  dread  and  doubt's  fell  dart, 
Sweet  hope,  eternal,  holds  the  human  heart. 

And  love  laughs  down  the  desolate  dusks  of  death. 

—  (The  Collected  Poems  of  Wilfred  Campbell.) 

If  I  can  put  one  touch  of  a  rosy  sunset  into  the  life  of  any 
man  or  woman  of  my  cure,  I  shall  feel  that  I  have  worked  with 
God.  He  is  in  no  haste;  and  if  I  do  what  I  may  in  earnest,  I 
need  not  mourn  if  I  work  no  great  work  on  the  earth.  Let 
God  make  His  sunsets;  I  will  mottle  my  little  fading  cloud.  To 
help  the  growth  of  a  thought  that  struggles  towards  the  light; 
to  brush  with  gentle  hand  the  earth-stain  from  the  white  of  one 
snowdrop — such  be  my  ambition.  So  shall  I  scale  the  rocks  in 
front,  not  leave  my  name  carved  upon  those  behind  me. — 
George  MacDonald. 


—322— 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE  OUTLOOK— "WHAT  OF  THE  NIGHT?" 

We  have  been  surveying  a  man  whose  greatest  original 
contribution  to  the  world  is  undoubtedly  himself.  We 
have  listened  to  his  controlling  ideas  which  he,  with 
strong  voice,  lifted  to  his  age.  If  at  times  we  found  him 
holding  to  the  old  terms  in  his  age  contact,  we  found  him 
constantly  putting  the  new  meaning  into  these  terms. 
We  m.ay  justly  think  of  him  as  Herrmann  thinks  of 
Luther :  ^"It  was  one  of  the  marks  of  his  significance  as 
a  reformer  that  he  clothed  the  new  thought  in  the  forms 
of  the  old,  and  so  bequeathed  it  as  a  hidden  germ  to 
those  generations  which  should  only  wean  themselves  by 
long  mental  exercise  from  the  forms  of  thought  employed 
by  the  ancient  church."  We  have  found  him  with  a 
message  both  for  his  own  age  and  a  message  for  all 
time.   He  was  intensely  modern. 

.  The  present  is  born  out  of  the  past.  That  does  not 
mean  that  the  present  shall  live  in  the  past.  The  future 
grows  out  of  the  present,  not  the  past.  The  uniqueness 
of  the  movement  inaugurated  by  Alexander  Campbell 
and  his  coagitators  is  that  their  followers  do  not  follow 
them.  Mr.  Campbell  was  no  dogmatist.  He  announced 
principles  to  be  developed.    He  would   have   no  one 

1  Communion  with  God,  p.  150. 

—323— 


'Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


slavishly  follow  him.  If  he  felt  himself  to  be  striking 
out  new  paths  in  his  return  to  the  Christ  he  did  not  de- 
sire that  his  successors  should  keep  to  his  beaten  paths ; 
but  should  anew  go  back  to  the  Christ,  each  individual 
for  himself,  and  there  learn  the  way  of  truth  and  duty 
from  the  Great  Teacher.  One  of  his  frequent  recogni- 
tions is  not  only  that  the  change  of  time  outwears  all  ver- 
bal expression,  but  that  that  same  time  would  overtake 
his  own  theological  exposition,  rendering  it  old,  so  that 
it,  too,  would  pass  away  to  give  place  to  the  new.  There- 
fore he  would  not  have  his  admirers  literally  follow  or 
think  his  thoughts  after  him.  Rather  would  he  have  them 
comprehend  the  significance  of  his  life  and  work,  catch 
his  spirit,  and  turn  to  the  fulfillment  of  their  task,  in 
the  age,  and  under  the  conditions  of  the  times,  and  with 
the  means  of  the  day  in  which  they  live.  We  cannot 
think,  then,  of  the  movement  pleaded  by  him,  as  a  stereo- 
typed affair  debarring  further  change  and  progress,  nor 
as  a  closed  shell  into  which  no  more  light  might  enter. 
We  are  forced  to  think  of  it  as  a  movement.  Some- 
thing moving  onward  and  upward.  'Progress,  develop- 
ment, perfection — these  are  the  ideas  that  characterized 
the  movement? 

What  is  the  outlook  f  Where  one  stands,  the  point  of 
observation  will  determine  one's  view  of  the  situation. 
The  child  of  time,  with  eyes  closed  to  progress,  with 
mind  incredulous  of  the  power  of  truth  to  win,  and  heart 
unresponsive  to  the  vast  significance  of  the  movements 
of  the  universe,  will  cry  'tis  dark,  'tis  night !    It  will  be 

—324— 


Alexander  Cainphell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


such  a  view  of  the  world  as  the  man  got  behind  the 
stump.  If  one  is  viewing  things  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  eternal  order  a  different  view  will  obtain. 

Some  have  felt  that  the  outlook  for  the  brotherhood  of 
Disciples  is  dark.  Shall  we  allow  this  to  prove  true? 
Shall  we  prove  to  the  world  through  our  failure  that 
liberty  of  thought  must  be  clasped  in  creed?  Or  shall 
we  not  rather  be  an  example  to  the  world  that  the  right 
to  think  grows  strong  and  mighty  in  freedom?  This  is 
the  question.  Charles  Alexander  Young  presents  an  im- 
portant consideration  which  is  in  perfect  harmony  with 
Mr.  Campbell's  own  thought  and  spirit '} 

"The  next  great  step  in  the  progress  of  the  church 
toward  religious  liberty  is  marked — and  this  is  the  con- 
tribution of  Thomas  Campbell — by  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  personal  faith  of  the  believer  and  the  theological 
faith  of  the  creeds.  With  the  breaking  of  the  Papal 
tyranny  there  ensued  a  theological  tyranny,  which  has 
ruled  in  the  Protestant  church  through  its  creeds  to  the 
twentieth  century.  Every  new  assertion  of  Christian 
liberty  has  resulted  in  a  new  tyranny.  Luther  exercised 
the  greatest  liberty  of  thought  personally,  but  it  was  lost 
to  his  followers.  Calvin  exercised  freedom  in  the  pur- 
suit and  acceptance  of  new  truth,  but  it  departed  from 
those  who  followed  him.  Thomas  Campbell  exercised 
the  greatest  possible  liberty,  and  would  be  bound  only 
where  the  Scriptures  bound  him  :  but  is  it  any  surprise 
that  there  has  been  less  liberty  among  his  followers? 

1  Hist.  Doc.,  p.  42f. 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


Where  Luther  stopped  growing,  there  Christian  thought 
and  life  hardened  into  a  fixed  form.  That  which  Luther 
was  free  to  think  in  his  lifetime,  the  next  generation  was 
obliged  to  think,  as  a  condition  of  fellowship  in  the 
Lutheran  Church.  There  is  danger  that  where  Thomas 
and  Alexander  Campbell  arrived  in  their  movement  to 
restore  primitive  Christianity,  there  those  who  gather 
around  them  shall  stop.  The  principle  of  liberty,  the 
right  to  grow  with  the  growth  of  truth,  needs  perpetual 
emphasis  and  incessant  utterance.  Back  to  this  principle 
has  gone  every  great  soul  for  fresh  inspiration  and  a  new 
starting  point  in  the  ascent  toward  perfect  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus  Christ.  Liberty  of  thought,  liberty  of  opinion,  is 
utterly  opposed  to  authority  in  opinion.  To  grant  liberty 
of  opinion,  liberty  in  the  pursuit  of  truth,  yet  to  fix  be- 
forehand the  opinion  at  which  one  must  arrive,  is  a  de- 
nial of  liberty. 

"This  principle  seems  most  impossible  of  application 
in  great  transition  periods,  such  as  the  present.  The 
opinions  of  the  last  generation  of  teachers,  to  which  the 
Campbells  belonged,  were  fixed  and  definite.  They  set- 
tled the  question  as  to  what  were  mere  opinions  and 
what  essentials  of  the  faith.  To-day  there  is  another  set 
of  opinions  which  has  taken  their  place.  The  task  is 
laid  upon  this  generation  anew  to  settle  the  relationship 
of  these  opinions  to  the  old,  and  to  the  essentials  of  the 
faith.  The  inevitable  condition  has  arrived  in  which  some 
opinions  are  pronounced  true,  others  erroneous.  It  seems 
the  most  difficult  thing  imaginable  for  those  who  think 


'Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


the  new  opinions  erroneous,  not  to  go  on  to  judge  those 
opinions  dangerous  to  the  faith.  Yes,  they  say,  we 
acknowledge  that  they  are  mere  opinions,  but  they  are 
dangerous  and  ought  not  to  be  tolerated.  This  is  an 
abridgment  of  liberty  in  non-essentials. 

"The  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  is  that  there  is  - 
just  as  much  need  of  liberty  in  new  opinion  as  in  old 
opinion  with  which  adjustment  has  been  reached.  In 
other  words,  openness  to  new  truth,  new  ideas,  new  opin- 
ions, is  just  as  essential  to  the  unity  of  the  church  as 
liberty  in  old  opinion.  The  refusal  of  the  teachers  of  the 
church  to  be  hospitable  toward  new  truth  has  driven 
some  of  her  best  spirits  from  her,  and  obliged  them  to 
form  new  organizations  for  fellowship.  The  church  of 
the  very  next  generation  has  frequently  welcomed  truth 
that  was  rejected  by  the  preceding.  There  are  new 
truths  being  uttered  to-day,  which,  though  denied  a  place 
in  the  body  of  Christian  truth  by  the  church  of  to-day, 
will  become  a  part  of  it  to-morrow.  There  are  new 
sects  arising  every  year  and  building  upon  rejected  truth 
— truth  for  which  the  existing  churches  have  found  no 
place." 

This  crystallization  is  just  what  we  found  Mr.  Camp- 
bell protesting  against.  It  is  true,  from  the  very  nature 
of  things,  it  has  ever  been  so,  that  there  is  always  a  fol- 
lowing of  any  good  which  fails  to  come  up  to  its  best 
measurements.  It  is  true,  it  is  lamentable  that  it  is  true, 
that  there  are  within  all  brotherhoods  of  men  some  who 
fail  in  coming  up  to  its  sublimest  heights.  Selfishness, 

—327— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


jealousy,  superstition,  ignorance,  willfulness,  bigotry — 
these  go  not  out  but  by  prayer  and  fasting  .  Yet  who 
shall  say  that  it  is  dark — hopelessly  dark?  Many  who 
have  used  Mr.  Campbell's  name  as  authority,  quoted  his 
word,  and  sworn  by  him,  do  not  yet  know  him.  What  is 
needed  to-day  is  a  good,  wholesome  acquaintance  with 
the  genius  of  the  man  who  became  the  life  and  inspira- 
tion of  this  movement.  When  men  once  get  under  the 
sarching  light  of  his  acquaintance  the  darkness  will  be- 
gin to  flee  away  and  they  shall  behold  the  shining  hills 
of  day.  No,  'tis  not  night!  'Tis  morning!!  'Tis 
gloria  lis  day!!! 

This  may  not  seem  true  from  the  reader's  point  of  view. 
As  the  darkey  said  :  "It  all  'pends  on  which  side  yer  on." 
But  when  I  turn  to  the  great  men  of  our  movement  I 
find  the  day  growing  wonderfully  light  about  me.  Here 
is  where  the  little  insignificant  thoughts  and  gossips  fall 
away  to  make  room  for  strong,  tall,  sun-crowned  per- 
sonalities. The  significance  and  promise  of  our  move- 
ment to-day  lies  in  these  men — thinking,  feeling,  willing, 
living  men.  Men  who  have  in  their  association  with  Mr. 
Campbell  not  tried  to  copy  him  nor  to  stop  the  develop- 
ment of  his  splendid  work  by  fixing  it,  but  have,  with 
open  minds  and  responding  hearts,  caught  his  vision, 
and  are  saying  to  this  generation,  **Come  up  higher." 
No,  it  is  not  night  when  there  is  such  a  host  of  fine 
spirits  who,  unwilling  for  the  movement  to  crystallize 
about  our  leaders,  are  standing  out  boldly  for  truth,  lib- 
erty and  progress. 

—328— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


It  is  not  night  when  our  institutions  of  learning  are, 
as  they  are,  opening  up  the  treasures  of  wisdom  to  the 
thousands  of  bright,  capable  young  men  and  women  of 
our  land,  and  training  them  not  only  to  express  them- 
selyes  in  harmony  with  the  noblest  that  there  is  in  God 
and  man,  but  fitting  them  to  face  unflinchingly  the  prob- 
lems of  their  time,  and  heroically  grapple  with  them. 

Of  course,  all  this  effort  toward  progress  and  perfec- 
tion does  not  come  silently,  sweetly  and  serenely.  This 
is  not  always  the  way  of  such.  Often  times  it  seems  as 
if  hell  were  let  loose  on  earth.  But  this  is  not  the  case. 
This  is  only  the  way  the  Kingdom  of  God  has  of  com- 
ing to  earth.  It  was  the  same  in  Jesus'  day.  We  have 
found  Islv.  Campbell  wrestling  with  the  same  law  of  de- 
velopment. One  should  not  grow  restless  and  disheart- 
ened if  progress  often  seems  harsh  and  runs  not  by 
straight  paths.  Such  is  but  the  method  of  God.  This 
fluttering  we  often  hear  making  the  air  grow  dizzy  about 
one  is  only  the  action  of  the  wings  getting  adjusted  for 
higher  flights.  That  life  may  enjoy  new  and  larger 
worlds  there  must  be  the  breaking  and  snapping  of  cere- 
ments. These  are  but  the  birth-pangs — the  tearing  away 
from  the  narrow  confines  of  the  old  existence  with  the 
consequent  new  adjustment  to  the  larger  life.  This  is 
as  true  of  conscious  man  as  of  God's  world  of  insects  and 
flowers.  So  never  mind  the  throes.  Let  the  good  work 
go  on.  'Tis  the  sign  of  life,  not  death.  'Tis  day!  'Tis 
day!!  The  old  earth  groans,  but  the  Kingdom  of  God 
rolls  into  it ! ! ! 

—329— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


The  disciples,  aboze  all  people,  shoidd  be  unwilling 
that  any  chasm  should  yawn  between  the  church  and  the 
school.  From  the  beginning  they  have  stood,  and  will 
stand  to  the  end,  for  the  highest  and  best  education  and 
scholarship.  Never  willing  that  our  plea  should  make  its 
appeal  solely  to  the  emotions,  profound  thought  has  ever 
characterized  it,  and  ever  will. 

The  past  teaches  us  that  success  has  attended  the  mes- 
sage of  God's  chosen  ones  in  every  age  proportionate  to 
their  ability  to  adjust  the  truth  to  the  age  conditions. 
It  is  important,  then,  that  in  the  grasp  of  our  message  we 
recognize  that  there  is  a  "to-day."  We  cannot  afford  to 
close  our  eyes  in  the  full-orbed  light  of  the  present  and 
go  about  saying,  "All  things  are  as  they  were  from  the 
beginning."  Peter  exhorted  the  people  to  be  "estab- 
lished in  the  present  truth."  The  confronting  task  of  to- 
day is  not  getting  a  message,  that  we  have — but  finding 
points  of  contact  for  the  application  of  truth  which  we 
already  possess.  Whether  we  believe  in  the  present-day 
methods  and  ideas  or  not,  we  must  know  them.  We 
must  know  that  there  is  a  "to-day."  Not  to  feel  its  at- 
mosphere would  be  like  a  man  who  would  make  no  pro- 
vision for  the  changing  seasons.  Every  age  has  its  time- 
spirit,  which  Hegel  defined  as  "the  Spirit  of  God  realizing 
itself  in  the  history  of  man."  It  might  be  thought  of  as 
the  general  atmosphere  of  the  age.  And  whether  we 
feel  it  or  not,  others  do. 

As  long  as  we  look  askance  at  the  schools  and  col- 
leges, close  our  minds  to  development,  and  refuse  to  our 

—330— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


thought  science,  Hterature  and  art,  we  need  not  expect 
the  intellectual  world  to  give  our  plea  any  enthusiastic 
reception. 

If  our  message  is  the  Christ,  education  needs  Christ. 
The  facts  that  education  brings  must  be  interpreted  in 
the  light  of  their  eternal  meaning.  j\Iay  it  not  be  said 
of  us,  as  was  said  of  God's  chosen  ones  of  old,  "My 
people  perish  for  lack  of  knowledge."  The  dominant 
thought  in  philosophy  to-day  is  the  unification  of  all 
knowledge.  Perhaps  God  has  raised  us  up  for  this  very 
purpose. 

He  who  fails  to  feel  the  magnitude  of  to-day  must  lag 
behind.  Anna  Robertson  Brown  Lindsay's  ''Warriors" 
came  from  the  press  in  1903.  She  tells  us  in  the  preface 
that  she  had  begun  to  write  the  book  five  years  before, 
and  much  of  what  she  wrote  which  she  had  uttered  as 
prophecy  had  been  fulfilled  when  the  book  went  to  press. 
It  is  useless  for  us  to  talk  about  the  "average  man." 
Books  of  every  description  are  flooding  the  land.  The 
"average  man"  finds  the  newest  in  his  fictions,  magazines 
and  papers.  In  fact,  the  "average  man"  is  the  "modern 
man."  This  age  demands  the  truth  of  God  stated  in 
terms  of  to-day.  Pentecost  was  unique  in  that  every 
man  heard  the  gospel  in  his  own  tongue.  This  age  has 
a  right  to  hear  the  gospel  in  the  current  language  of  the 
day. 

Some  have  imagined  that  the  new  conceptions  of 
things  required  a  new  message — a  new  revelation  from 
God.    Xo  new  message  is  needed.    Fundamentally  the 

—331— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


message  is  as  ever — the  love,  justice,  mercy  and  good- 
ness of  God  as  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  strikes  us  at 
a  new  angle.  Our  experience  illuminates  it.  In  the  light 
of  hitherto  undreamed  of  conditions  the  fresh  vision  of 
the  Christ  seems  to  the  impassioned  soul  like  a  new 
message.  This  is  the  nature  of  progressive  revelation. 
We  see  only  the  part  that  our  circumstance  draws  forth. 
God  and  Christ  fathom  it  all.  Jesus  said :  "I  have  many 
things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear  them  now." 
God  brings  to  his  chosen  ones  the  present  century.  It  is 
his  preparation.  The  opportunity  is  ours.  His  message 
of  salvation  must  be  laid  upon  the  heart  of  to-day's 
needs.  It  is  a  problem  of  adaptation  that  confronts  us. 
Forward  to  Christ  is  our  rally  cry.  Christ  is  not  in 
Jerusalem  more  than  he  is  in  our  midst.  The  call  to-day 
is  for  a  people  who  can  bring  to  the  world's  need  the 
message  from  God.  Mr.  Lecky,  the  historian,  says :  "It 
was  reserved  for  Christianity  to  present  to  the  world  an 
ideal  character,  which,  through  all  the  changes  of  eighteen 
centuries,  has  filled  the  hearts  of  men  with  an  impas- 
sioned love,  and  has  shown  itself  capable  of  acting  on 
all  ages,  nations,  temperaments  and  conditions;  has  not 
only  been  the  highest  pattern  of  virtue,  but  the  highest 
incentive  to  its  practice."  Said  Gladstone :  ''The  longer 
I  live  the  more  I  feel  that  Christianity  does  not  consist  in 
any  particular  system  of  church  government,  or  in  any 
creedal  statement,  but  that  Christianity  is  Christ."  In 
''The  Death  of  the  Desert,"  Browning  declares : 

"I  say,  the  acknowledgment  of  God  in  Christ 
Accepted  by  the  reason  solves  for  thee 
All  questions  in  the  world  and  out  of  it." 
—332— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty, 


Our  message  in  its  appeal  is  manifold.  Social  condi- 
tions need  Jesus  Christ.  We  can  gain  nothing  and  may 
lose  all  by  feeling  bitter  toward  the  world  because  it 
seems  often  to  rival  the  church,  has  a  social  conscience, 
a  Bible — in  its  code  of  ethics,  an  enthusiasm  for  human- 
ity, and  a  feeling  for  brotherhood.  These  things  are  indic- 
ative of  enlightenment,  progress  and  human  need.  Upon 
this  common  ground  we  find  our  approach  in  bringing  to 
society  the  love  which  Jesus  taught  the  world,  the  only 
force  which  will  cement  and  regenerate  humanity.  In  its 
desire  for  brotherhood  we  may  enjoin  its  natural  coun- 
terpart and  foundation — God's  Fatherhood.  The  one  is 
unpractical  and  impossible  without  the  other.  We  need 
feel  no  alarm  to  learn  that  the  Buddhists,  Hindoos,  Brah- 
mins and  ]Mohaminedans  have  their  sacred  books  with 
beautiful  and  moral  sentiments,  but  take  courage  and 
thank  God  that  our  message  has  expanded  from  a  plea 
to  the  denominations  to  a  message  to  nations.  We  have 
a  Christ  of  whom  we  need  have  no  fear  that  he  will  suf- 
fer in  comparison.  As  we  would  have  them  do  by  us,  we 
should  recognize  all  the  good  in  their  religions  with  a 
feeling  of  certainty  that  since  they  have  good  they  will 
learn  to  know  the  highest  good.  This  is  our  point  of  con- 
tact. The  ethnic  religions  have  much  that  is  true  and 
pure,  but  they  lack  Christ.  It  requires  but  a  people  fully 
possessed  by  the  spirit  of  Christ  to  make  the  Orient  re- 
flect the  'Xight  of  the  World." 

Commensurate  with  the  world's  great  physical  changes 
have  been  the  mighty  changes  in  the  political  and  indus- 
—333— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


trial  world  which  have  brought  to  the  surface  feelings  of 
discontent  among  workingmen.  These  cries  of  anguish 
from  the  burden  bearers  are  prefaced  with  aspirations, 
longings  and  hopes  for  future  betterment  which  are  pow- 
erful in  determination.  There  has  been  a  turning  from 
the  individual  to  the  society.  The  individual  is  almost 
in  the  mass.  The  solidarity  of  the  human  race  is  painted 
in  most  glowing  colors,  and  the  idea  of  brotherhood  is 
given  a  new  setting.  Even  Buddhists,  Confucianists,  Brah- 
mins and  Hindoos  urge  the  doctrine  of  brotherhood. 
This  is  the  foundation  stone  of  the  democratic  and  social- 
istic movements  of  the  day. 

The  glory  of  our  movement  is  the  success  with  which 
our  fathers  brought  the  truth  of  God  to  bear  upon  the 
conditions  of  their  day.  The  efficiency  with  which  we 
bring  divine  truth  to  today's  needs  will  determine  our 
future  glory.  The  fathers  never  purposed  that  we  should 
be  imitators  of  them  nor  interpret  the  mind  of  Christ 
through  them.  "Back  to  Christ"  means  beyond  the  fath- 
ers, and  even  beyond  the  apostles,  to  Christ  himself.  We 
must  read  them  through  Christ,  not  him  through  them. 

To  be  loyal  to  the  fathers,  as  well  as  to  Christ,  is  to 
imitate  their  heroic  spirit  in  wrestling  with  the  problems 
of  our  own  day,  to  emulate  their  loyal  feeling  for  the 
Master,  to  share  their  sacrifice  and  toil,  and  to  realize  in 
our  own  lives  the  mighty  love  that  stirred  within  their 
souls;  rather  than  to  think  what  they  thought  and  say 
what  they  said  in  the  face  of  their  conditions. 

Great  and  glorious  are  the  tasks  that  confront  the 
—334— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


church  today.  \\^e  may  go  forth  sounding  an  evangel- 
istic note  which  will  bring  into  harmony  every  discordant 
element.  But  to  make  this  possible  the  church  needs 
preparation  from  her  own  message.  The  church  needs 
Christ.  His  love  must  animate  and  his  Spirit  possess  her. 
'Tis  not  enough  to  accept  Christ  in  doctrine.  He  is  life. 
Submission  is  only  passive.  He  must  be  employed  and 
expressed.  In  this  very  world  he  brings  us  into  life 
"more  abundant."  His  Kingdom  unfolding  itself  in  a 
thousand  ways  in  the  life  all  about  us,  must  impassion, 
inspire  and  thrill  the  whole  church  of  God.  Xot  the  in- 
fidels without  the  Church  are  impeding  her  progress  and 
delaying  the  coming  Kingdom,  but  those  within  who  fail 
to  lay  hold — in  thought,  imagination  and  faith — of  God 
in  his  eternal  purpose — those  who  fail  to  go  forth  with 
her  message  of  the  Christ  with  an  awakened  conscious- 
ness of  all  things  both  in  heaven  and  earth.  The  "Chris- 
tian Evangelist"  places  the  situation  before  us  thus : 

"Never  was  the  church,  in  any  age,  confronted  with 
greater  tasks  than  the  Church  of  today.  These  tasks  may 
be  broadly  stated  as  the  evangelization  of  the  heathen 
world  and  the  Christianization  of  the  civilization  of  pro- 
fessedly Christian  lands.  This  involves  the  Christianiza- 
tion of  our  business,  of  our  politics,  of  our  laws  and  insti- 
tutions, of  our  educational  processes,  of  our  system  of 
preventing  crime  and  of  punishing  the  criminals,  and  all 
that  goes  to  make  up  the  private  and  public  life  of  a 
people.  These  tasks,  in  which  the  Church  must  at  least 
lead  if  they  are  ever  to  be  accomplished,  require  at  least 

__33o— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


two  things  on  the  part  of  the  Church,  namely,  a  deeper 
spiritual  life  which  shall  bring  it  into  closer  fellowship 
with  God.  and  the  healing  of  its  divisions,  so  as  to  pre- 
sent a  united  front  against  the  forces  of  evil.  The  first 
of  these  is  essential  to  the  realization  of  the  other.  We 
can  never  have  the  unification  of  a  divided  Church  until 
it  gets  a  clear  vision  and  a  stronger  grasp  of  spiritual 
realities,  and  rises  out  of  the  region  of  the  carnal  into  a 
higher  faith  and  a  purer  worship.  And  never  can  the 
Church  achieve  the  victory  over  the  w^orld  and  accom- 
plish its  sublime  mission  until  it  closes  up  its  divided 
ranks." 

Dr.  Willett  truly  says :  "The  progress  made  during  the 
life  of  Mr.  Campbell  did  not  cease  at  his  death,  and  that 
the  highest  loyalty  to  him  and  the  truths  he  proclaimed 
does  not  consist  in  camping  on  the  spot  where  he  fell,  but 
in  pursuing  the  path  of  progress  he  followed  through  life. 
If  this  Reformation  would  escape  the  fate  of  preceding 
movements,  it  must  avoid  their  mistake  of  crystallizing 
about  the  positions  which  their  leaders  last  occupied  and 
failing  to  advance  as  those  leaders  had  done  through  life 
and  would  still  have  continued  to  do  if  ahve.  If  this 
mistake  should  be  committed  by  the  Disciples  nothing 
could  save  them  from  the  fate  that  has  overtaken  sev- 
eral previous  reformations.'" 

Dr.  Garrison  puts  the  matter  forcibly "We  must  go 
forw-ard.    We  have  not  yet  apprehended  that  for  which 

1  The  New  Christian  Quarterly,  Jan.,  1896,  p.  96.  2  a  Modern  Plea  for 
Ancient  Truths,  p.  15f. 

—336— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christian  Liberty. 


we  were  apprehended  by  Christ  Jesus.  Our  reUgious 
movement  has  not  attained  its  ideal — much  less  God's 
ideal.  He  has  greater  work  for  us  to  do  than  we  have 
ever  dreamed  of,  if  we  will  only  follow  where  Christ 
would  lead  us.  He  wants  a  continuous  and  progressive 
reformation  that  shall  address  itself  to  the  condition  and 
needs  of  each  passing  age.  He  wants  no  crystallization, 
but  perpetual  gro^^•th.  All  previous  reformations  have 
crystallized.  Shall  ours?  Not  if  we  are  willing  to  be 
led  of  Christ." 

Coming  to  Mr.  Campbell  is  like  drawing  near  to  any 
great  personality.  It  is  not  so  much  his  word  that  builds 
us  up  as  what  his  word  suggests  to  and  evokes  from  us. 
That  which  really  helps  us  is  the  great  thinking,  feeling, 
willing  soul  which  the  words  seek,  though  always  inade- 
quately, to  interpret  and  express.  It  is  the  touch  of  soul 
with  soul  that  enlarges  us.  It  is  the  fellowship  of  life 
with  life  that  cheers  us.  So  it  is  not  only  in  what  ^Ir. 
Campbell  said  so  clearly,  systematically,  and  beautifully 
that  comforts  us.  but,  in  what  sometimes  he  left  unsaid, 
in  what  he  would  say,  in  what  he  aspired  and  yearned, 
in  "instincts  immature,''  in  "purposes  unsure,"  in  thoughts 
hardly  expressed,  in  fancies  not  escaped.  It  is  his  great 
progressive  soul,  struggling  within  its  narrow  confines 
of  flesh  and  environment,  ever  reaching  out  unto  the  In- 
finite, that  impresses  us.  The  inspiration  that  he  grants 
us  is  not  confined  to  terms,  propositions,  nor  even  ideas. 
We  feel  the  atmosphere  of  the  man.  We  even  forget  the 
man  as  we  are  caught  up  into  his  glorious  task  of  life. 
(22)  —337— 


Alexander  Campbell  and  Christim  Liberty. 


\\'e,  too,  become  absorbed  as  we  share  with  him  the  suf- 
ferings and  joys  incident  upon  such  strenuous  pressing 
toward  the  Goal.  We  even  feel  that  this  splendid  task 
has  become  our  task.  Life  becomes  sweeter  and  more 
meaningful,  with  such  a  friend,  and  as  the  noblest  in  us 
longs  for  expression,  we  feel  ourselves  rising  to  the 
heights  with  him.  Yes,  the  real  incentive  of  such  asso- 
ciation is  that  the  outward  man  falls  into  the  background 
— his  form,  his  manners,  his  word — and  we  find  ourselves 
face  to  face  with  God. 

Alexander  Campbell  passed  through  life  earnestly,  sin- 
cerely, gracefully.  His  passing  to  God  was  beautiful  and 
victorious,  while  the  immortal  truths  of  his  religion  live 
and  stir  today  in  thousands  of  hearts  from  whom  they 
evoke  the  best  and  noblest  expression. 

Therefore,  he,  having  passed  into  Immortalityy  is  still 
speaking  upon  the  eai-th.  So  'tis  not  night,  but  glorious 
day !  In  such  souls,  touched  and  transformed  by  the  Di- 
vine passion,  "mercy  and  truth  are  met  together,  right- 
eousness and  peace  have  kissed  each  other."  As  we  pen 
these  closing  words,  nestled  here  among  the  rugged  Rock- 
ies, fit  emblem  of  Truth,  those  giant  forms  lift  themselves 
from  earth  to  heaven;  snow-crowned  as  they  are,  seem- 
ing cold  in  their  awful  grandeur,  yet  withal  sun-kissed 
and  overarched  with  sky  of  blue.  We  are  impressed  that 
God  and  man  are  in  league:  that  heaven  and  earth  are 
in  union  ;  that  "Truth  springeth  out  of  the  earth  and 
righteousness  hath  looked  down  from  heaven." 


—338— 


Bibliography. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


The  Works  of  Alexander  Campbell  (Christian  Publishing  Co.) 


Abbreviations. 

Popular  Lectures  and  Addresses  Add. 

Campbell   on   Baptism  Bapt. 

The  Christian  Baptist  C.  B. 

The  Christian  System  Ch.  Sys. 

Debate  on  the  Roman  Catholic  Religion  D.  on  R.  C.  R. 

Lectures  on  the  Pentateuch  Lect.  on  Pent. 

Evidences   of  Christianity  Evi. 

Living  Oracles  Liv.  Or. 

Millennial  Harbinger  Mil  Har. 


Other  Works  Referred  To. 

Historical  Documents  Advocating  Christian  Union — Young. 
{Christian  Century  Company.) 

The  Early  Relation  and  Separation  of  Baptists  and  Disciples — 
Gates.    {Christian   Century  Company.) 

A  Modern  Plea  for  Ancient  Truths — Garrison.  {Christian  Pub- 
lishing Company.) 

Alexander  Campbell's  Theolog}- — W.  E.  Garrison.  {Christian 
Publishing  Company.) 

The  Plea  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ — Moore.  {Christian  Cen- 
tury Co.) 

The  Rise  of  the  Current  Reformation — Van  Kirk.  {Christian 

Publishing  Company.) 
Higher    Criticism    (Tract) — Garrison.    {Christian  Publishing 

Company.) 

The  Christian-Evangelist.  {Christian  Publishing  Company,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.) 

—341— 


Bibliography. 


The  Christian  Century.    {Chicago,  III.) 

The  Centennial  Campfire— Laura  Gerould  Craig.    (C  W.  B.  M., 

Indianapolis,  Ind.) 
Faith  and  Rationalism — Fisher.  (Scribners.) 
Ten  Epochs  of  Church  History— (The  Apostolic  Age— Bartlet). 

(Scribners.) 

Life  and  Religion — Muller.    {Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.) 
Reconstructions  in  Theology — King.     {The    Macmillan  Co.) 
The  Seeming  Unreality  of  the  Spiritual  Life — King.  {Mac- 
millan Co.) 

Theology  and  the  Social  Consciousness — King.  {The  Macmil- 
lan Co.) 

Personal  and  Ideal  Elements  in  Education — King.  {The  Mac- 
millan Co.) 

The  Theology  of  Albrecht  Ritschl — Swing.  {Longmans.) 

Communion  with  God — Herrmann.  {Putnam.) 

Christian   Theology   in   Outline — Brown.  {Scribners.) 

The  Finality  of  the  Christian  Religion — Foster.  {University  of 
Chicago  Press.) 

What  Is  Christianity? — Harnack.  {Putnam.) 

A  History  of  New  England  Theology — Foster.  {University  of 
Chicago  Press.) 

Cambridge  Theological  Essays.    {Macmillan  Co.) 

The  English  Reformation  and  Puritanism — Hulbert.  {Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  Press.) 

Hagenbach's  History  of  the  Church  in  the  Eighteenth  and  Nine- 
teenth Centuries — Vol.  II — Hurst.  {Scribners.) 

The  Philosophy  of  Religion — Lotze.    {Macmillan  Co.) 

Microcosmus — Lotze.  {Scribners.) 

A  History  of  Philosophy — Windelband.    {The  Macmillan  Co.) 
The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theology — Fairbairn.  {Scrib- 
ners.) 

The  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament— Ryle.     {Macmillan  Co.) 

 342  


Bibliography. 


The  Old  Testament  in  the  Jewish  Church — W.  Robertson  Smith. 

{Macmillan  Co.) 
The  Origin  and  Permanent  Value  of  the  Old  Testament — Kent. 

{Scrihncrs.) 

The  New  Appreciation  of  the  Bible — Selleck.    {University  of 
Chicago  Press.) 

A   Young  Man's   Religion  and   His   Father's   Faith — Waters. 

{Thomas  Y.  Crozvell  &  Co.) 
The  Fortune  of  the  Republic— Hillis.  {Revell.) 
The  Heart  of  the  Gospel— Campbell.  {Revell.) 
Pragmatism — William  James.    {Longmans,  Green  &  Co.) 
Messages  of  the  Masters — Amory  H.  Bradford.    (T.  Y.  Crowell 

&  Co.) 

The    Evolution    of    Christianity — Lyman    Abbott.  {Houghton, 

Mifflin  &  Co.) 
Religions  of  the  World — Grant.    {Randolph  &  Co.) 
The   Intellectual   Development   of  Europe — Vol.    HI — Draper, 

{Harpers.) 

The  Front  Line  of  the  Sunday  School  Movement — Peloubet. 

{W.  A.  Wilde  Co.) 
The  Bible:    Its  Origin  and  Nature — Marcus  Dods.  {Scribners.) 
History  of  Interpretation — Farrar. 

Bible   Criticism   and  the   Average   Man — Johnston.  {Revell.) 
Passing  Protestantism  and  Coming  Catholicism — Smyth.  {Scrib- 
ners.) 

The  Idea  of  God— Fiske.    {Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.) 
The  Divine  Pursuit — McFadyen.  {Revell.) 
The  Story  of  the  Psalms — Van  Dyke.  {Scribners.) 
The  Collected  Poems  of  Wilfred  Campbell.    {William  Briggs, 
Toronto.) 

Essays — Mazzini.    {Walter  Scott,  London.) 

Democratic  Vistas  and  Other  Papers — Whitman.    {Walter  Scott, 
London.) 

The  Teaching  of  Jesus — Vol.  I — Wendt.  {Scribners.) 

—343— 


Bibliography. 


Text-Book  in  the  History  of  Education — Monroe.  {Macmill- 
lan  Co.) 

History  of  Christian  Doctrine — Fisher.  (Scribners.) 

The  Ascent  of  Man — Drummond.    (James  Pott  &  Co.) 

The  New  Era — Strong.    (Baker  &  Taylor  Co.) 

Dictionary  of  Christ  and  the  Gospels — Hastings.  (Scribners.) 

The  Lew  Schaff-Herzog  Encyclopedia  of  Religious  Knowledge. 

The  JNew  SSehali-Herzog  Encyclopedia  of  Eeligious  Knowiedgc. 

(Funk  &  Wagnalls  Co.) 
What  Is  Religion ?—Pritchett.    (Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.) 
Temple  Bible — An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Scripture — 

Boyd  Carpenter.    (/.  B.  Lippincott  Co.) 
Browning's  Complete  Poetical  Works.    (Houghton,  Mifflin  & 

Co.) 

Outline  of  the  Doctrinal  Development  of  the  Western  Church 
(Based  on  the  Dogmengeschichte  of  Friedrich  Loofs) — Al- 
bert Temple  Swing.    (Oberlin,  Ohio.) 

Movements  of  Religious  Thought  in  Britain  During  the  Nine- 
teenth Century — Tulloch.  (Scribners.) 

Robertson's  Sermons.    (Harpers  &  Bros.) 


—344^ 


Date  Due 


